Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) parachutes into the Sahara Desert in German-occupied North Africa in early 1942. He is a Canadian special forces intelligence agent. He teams up with French resistance operative Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard). She introduces him to her chic, insouciant cocktail crowd as her itinerant husband who deals in the Phosphate Industry. Their mission is to gain entrance to a private dinner party promoted by the Germans as a token of good will. There they are to assassinate Hitler’s appointed commandant, which they do with dispatch.
They fall in love, marry, move to London and have a child during the Blitz.
Marianne claims she has given up all of her covert work. Max is called to his headquarters where he is told that Marianne was acting as a double agent in Casablanca and is still sending vital information to the Germans. He is instructed to leave false coded data where his wife can easily see it. If any of the code is discovered in secretly monitored wireless transmissions, he is to kill his wife. Failure to carry out this mission will result in his immediate execution.
Intrigue, espionage, World War II, and a love story all closely interwoven make this film a standout. Add to this brilliant performances by Pitt and Cotillard.
Don’t miss this one. It carries a must-see grade A rating. To make this more enjoyable, brush up on your high school French which you can cross check with subtitles. Also the chemical formulate for Phosphate is: PO4-3.
“Allied” is currently showing at the Old Mill Playhouse and the Barnstorm Theater.
Villager Jack Petro reviews movie for Villages-News.com
