The film’s flashback is set a decade before the current events, and is undoubtedly its highpoint. Ten years ago, Franck (Guillaume Canet) and his now-wife, Leo (Stéphane Caillard), were new recruits at the prestigious GIGN, France’s National Gendarmerie Intervention Group. The tactical arm of the police specialises in a range of activities to safeguard national interest – counterterrorism, hostage negotiation/rescue, surveillance, and so forth. The members live and train together, and the set-up is as closeknit as it gets. Franck and Leo become an integral part of the group. The rigours of the job notwithstanding, they party hard as a team and are supportive of each other’s personal victories. Two years into their time at the GIGN, and Franck and Leo begin dating. Franck comes from a difficult home environment and doesn’t believe in a traditional family life, but his friend/colleague Nico (and his pregnant wife) tell him that having a family isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Despite being an excellent negotiator, Leo steps back from the force when she becomes unexpectedly pregnant. Just as she is to break the news to Franck, the latter is involved in a fatal shootout involving the GIGN. With clear orders of not intervening until the local police arrives at a potential hostage situation, Franck makes a tactical error, and is forced to return fire on two armed men. Nico is killed in the encounter. An inconsolable Franck is discharged from the force with immediate effect. With the unofficial help of the organisation’s lab, he comes to the conclusion that the blood on his badge matches the DNA of a French intelligence member. His wish to expose the truth has serious consequences involving the Government.
To Life must be viewed in two parts. The first is the flashback. Taking up considerable space in the film, it is most engaging. The second is the action thriller, which plays out in as predictable a manner there is. The former is layered in its emotional depth and drama. It makes it a point to showcase, with a fair degree of detail, how their lives came to be, and what lies behind the honour code of members of the GIGN. Through the bonding, ribbing, highs and lows of their regimented existence, there is a deep love for one another that emerges. Franck gets into a relationship with Leo, presuming that she buys in the same construct of family as he does. It is Nico and his wife who remind him that the trauma of his childhood need not necessarily repeat itself, and that he has more control than he thinks. Nico goes one step further by saying that it is his wife and unborn child that give him the requisite strength to carry on. Benjamin (Nassim Lyes), the youngster among the ranks, is made to feel totally at home in the group; he has little or no family to speak of. The armed forces aren’t necessarily known for their sensitive side, but the narrative touches upon aspects of a strong team environment that forms a protective layer akin to family. That is perhaps the main reason why one is willing to take a bullet for the person beside you.
With its sheer mediocrity, the elements of the ensuing action thriller douse the flame of interest that the flashback creates. You’re not supposed to mess with the Government, period. And, if you do, it will go to extreme lengths to subdue you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a decorated armed forces officer sitting on overwhelming evidence. Talk about unoriginal! And yet, To Life beats the cliché into the dirt. Its sequences of kidnapping, bike / car chases, gun battles, and an ultimately just ending, aren’t lost on anyone. The unfortunate thing is that the action isn’t bad to watch. If the writing was better conceived, the film may well have been worth investing in.
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