The Stronghold spoilers follow.
Fresh from its premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival, The Stronghold (Bac Nord) has arrived on Netflix if you're in the mood for some tense French cops vs gangs action.
The movie centres on three detectives in Marseille's anti-crime unit (known as BAC Nord) who, under pressure from their superiors to improve arrest and drugs seizure numbers, get the chance to bust a major drug network. It's an operation that will test their moral and professional boundaries to their limit.
But what seems to be playing out as a fairly standard cop thriller takes an unexpected turn in the final third, as the three detectives face surprising consequences once their career-defining operation ends.
The movie is based on real events which we're going to delve into here, so if you haven't seen The Stronghold, spoilers await.
As the opening title card explains, The Stronghold was "inspired by a true story" but the characters and events are fictional, and it doesn't seek to "convey an appreciation for a legal case". However, it still closely follows the events of the case it was based on.
Back in 2012, 18 police officers from the BAC Nord unit were arrested and accused of racketeering and stealing drugs. They claimed that the seized drugs were used to pay informants during their attempt to take down one of the drug lords operating in Marseille.
Prosecutor Jacques Dallest alleged that the officers also "helped themselves to a share" of drug profits (via AFP). Some of the detectives accused admitted to instances of wrongdoing, while others said they passed confiscated cigarettes on to homeless people.
The Stronghold focuses on the officers who claimed they used the drugs to pay informants who provided information for their operation. Greg (Gilles Lellouche), Yass (Karim Leklou) and Antoine (François Civil) are fictional characters, but their journey largely follows the events of the 2012 case.
Director and co-writer Cédric Jimenez spoke to the three officers to prepare for the movie and told Cannes that their conversations contributed "a lot".
"They knew their behaviour wasn't perfect, but they were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the case. They were put on trial for international drug trafficking following all the media attention and political hype. They were in over their heads and it was all very complicated," he explained.
The Stronghold outlines just how these three detectives could end up bending the law in order to make a difference. We see them recruit fellow members of their unit to shake down drug dealers, all in order to get enough drugs to 'pay' Antoine's informant Amel (Kenza Fortas) to help them raid a local stash house.
It's an operation that's a huge success and sees them hailed as heroes in the department, only for Greg, Yass and Antoine to get arrested by Internal Affairs two months later. Antoine refuses to give up his informant and their boss denies all knowledge of their actions, despite being seen earlier in the movie agreeing to it.
Compared to the real-life events, everything happens much quicker in The Stronghold as Yass eventually persuades Antoine to give up Amel in order to save them. It's only the three of them who get arrested too as their fellow officers refuse to reveal their involvement in seizing the drugs.
Once Antoine does tell Internal Affairs about his informant, the charges of drug trafficking are dropped and the end titles reveal Yass is now with the police union, Antoine resigned to work as a prison nurse and Greg was removed from the police force.
This mirrors the real-life inspiration for the characters as one of them does now lead the local police union. It actually took until earlier this year though for all of the officers involved in the original case to be either acquitted or given suspended sentences (via AFP).
Following its Cannes premiere, The Stronghold did court some controversy for its depiction of the real-life case with it appearing to be largely in favour of the officers involved.
"While they have been partially cleared, they are still facing an appeal by prosectors," critic Samuel Douhaire told AFP, who also criticised the fact that the movie was already being filmed while the real-life case was still being investigated.
For the director and co-writer though, he denied that the movie takes any side in the case: "My work isn't to judge. I tried to experience the case as they did, at their level and through their eyes, without going beyond."
The Stronghold is available to watch now on Netflix.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
