Taxi for Tobruk

The Second World War, the North African desert. A five man French commando team blows up a German fuel dump. On the way back their vehicle breaks down and their maps are lost. They come across a German vehicle on the road and take an officer prisoner. The man is called Ludwig; he speaks English and French and can find his way in the desert. The French need him to get out. They travel for days in the same vehicle. The water runs low, they argue, they talk, and at a certain point who is the enemy becomes uncertain. In the end they reach their own lines. Denys de La Patellière directs. Lino Ventura, Hardy Krüger, Charles Aznavour and Maurice Biraud are in the cast. It is a French and Spanish co-production. Charles Aznavour was known as a singer in this period and his film career advanced through parts like this one. The matter it builds is how long war can hold the distinction between sides; the film tests that inside one vehicle with five men. Its ending turns the whole argument around and offers no hope. The desert landscape is the main material and the location is almost single. It is a film weighted toward dialogue; there is little event and the tension comes out of the talk. Its limit is rhythm; the narrative slows in its middle stretch and some arguments repeat. Who it is for: viewers who like French war drama and narratives in closed spaces. Who it is not for: there is little action, the pace is low, and the ending hard.