SANCTUAIRE

Straddling the border between France and Spain is a mountainous land called the Basque Country. Some of the residents of the Spanish side have been calling, and fighting, for the region’s independence since the early 1980s. Inspired by real events on both sides of the border, this fictional film recounts the struggle between the ETA (the Basque separatist army) and the GAL (Spanish government anti-ETA forces) on French territory. Based on negotiations begun by Grégoire Fortin, an advisor to François Mitterrand, the story puts Fortin together with the leader of ETA, hiding out in France. While the French favour diplomacy, the militants are busy with internecine struggles while lying in wait for the GAL to make a misstep, so they can strike back with more violence than ever. Reconstructing the power struggles within the governments of the time, this political thriller attempts, in a dynamic style set against the magnificent landscapes of the Basque coast, to shed light on the “dirty war” between the separatists and Spain’s first democratically elected government after the Francoist dictatorship. One of the few films to examine this topic, Sanctuaire is a brave work, not least because much of the history of these events remains obscure to this day.