Little Soldier, The (Le Petit Soldat) (1963): Godard’s Starring Anna Karina

Le petit soldat

During the Algerian War, Bruno Forestier lives in Geneva in order to escape the enlistment in France.

Working for La Main Rouge, he is ordered to kill Palivoda, who is pro-FLN (National Liberation Front of Algeria), to prove he is not a double agent. However, refusal and hesitation keep him from carrying out the assassination.

Meanwhile, he meets and falls in love with Véronica Dreyer, who helped the FLN. Bruno plans to leave with her for Brazil but is captured and tortured by Algerian revolutionaries. He escapes and agrees to kill Palivoda for the French in exchange for passage to Brazil for himself and Véronica.

However, the French discover Véronica’s ties to the FLN and torture her to death.

The conflict in Algeria and the denunciation of torture by both sides are the main themes of the movie. The film also explores a theme typical of all of Godard’s works: the nature of cinema and the image.

The film was banned in France until January 1963 because of its inclusion of rough torture scenes.

This was Godard’s second feature film (after À bout de souffle) but it was released as his fourth.

This is the first of Godard’s movies to star Anna Karina, who became his wife soon after filming. She would go on to become the quintessential Godard actress.

Cast
Michel Subor as Bruno Forestier
Anna Karina as Veronica Dreyer
Henri-Jacques Huet as Jacques
Paul Beauvais as Paul
László Szabó as Laszlo