Storyline
On September 5, 1960, the trial of about twenty French activists from the "Jeanson Network" began, supporters in the metropolis of the action of the Algerian FLN independence activists. But after a few days, the situation was reversed and the trial transformed into a political arena, it was the government, the army, their policy, it was the entire Algerian war whose trial began. Accused, witnesses, lawyers, overflowing a stunned court, transformed the courtroom into a tribune of the opposition. The trial coincided with the publication of the "Manifesto of the 121" on the right to insubordination, signed among others by Jean Paul Sartre, Arthur Adamov, Simone de Beauvoir, André Breton, Marguerite Duras, Pierre Boulez, René Dumont, François Chatelet…
Cast & Crew
Bernard Langlois
Narrator
Lead
Siné
Self
François Maspero
Self
Jacques Vergès
Self
Maurice Nadeau
Self
Simone Signoret
Self (archive footage)
Jean Daniel
Self
Jean Lacouture
Self
What People Are Saying
“A staggering achievement of craft and ambition. Medhi Lallaoui's vision lands with breathtaking precision.”
“Every frame feels alive. Manifesto of the 121 is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.”
