Terror’s Advocate Review

Jacques Vergés is an enigma shrouded by mystery inside a conspiracy. An anti-colonialist since his childhood, Vergés was a student friend of Pol Pot and made his name defending Algerian heroine Djamila Bouhired before taking on less salubrious clients like Klaus Barbie and Carlos The Jackal. But while this confident charmer is the nominal subject of this fascinating and deeply disconcerting documentary, Barbet Schroeder is as interested in Vergés's fellow travellers, who forge alarming links between Nazism, various Islamic jihadists, the Red Army Faction and the Stasi. Moreover, Schroeder refuses to skirt the awkward questions about France's conduct in maintaining its crumbling empire. With on-screen footnotes explaining the intricacies of global terror, this is a superbly researched and structured provocation that reveals how dark and dangerous our world really is.