Jacques Vergès had defended a lot of people, and it's his Zelig-like journey through the politics of the postwar 20th century that is the contentious subject of Barbet Schroeder's unwieldy, unforgettable film.
Comment
10/11/07
Terror's Advocate (2007)
85
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:40
Fresh:34
Rotten:6
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: Terror's Advocate is a fascinating portrayal of a controversial political figure; both morally unsettling and emotionally gripping.
Theatrical Release:Oct 12, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: Communist, anti-colonialist, right-wing extremist? What convictions guide the moral mind of Jacques Vergès? Barbet Schroeder takes us down history’s darkest paths in his attempt to illuminate the... [More]
Director: Barbet Schroeder
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Reviews for Terror's Advocate
Top CriticWhile the man [Vergès] has a snappy aphorism for every question, he remains as imponderable and enigmatic as the Sphinx.
11/09/07
Despite extensive interview footage with Vergès himself, Terror's Advocate fails to crack its enigmatic subject matter.
10/12/07
As riveting as it is dizzying, Schroeder's documentary thriller takes a mesmerising ad hominem approach to twentieth century terror, offering up for our judgement an advocate whose views ought to be indefensible.
05/12/08
Barbet Schroeder's astonishing documentary is a glimpse into another world, and not one you would necessarily want to visit for too long.
11/16/07
That [director] Schroeder doesn't offer simple explanations gives his tale honesty and fascination.
10/11/07
If you want to see a who's who in terror, just take a peek at this guy's client list.
11/21/07
A brilliant study in the link between moral corruption and narcissism.
10/20/07
Top CriticFor just a moment, ignore politics. Consider Jacques Vergès simply as star. The radical French lawyer is an absolutely compelling figure onscreen: exotic, resolute, beguilingly smug.
11/09/07
Top CriticPacked with courtroom drama, mystery and international intrigue.
10/12/07
If Terror's Advocate doesn't precisely interrogate the rise of terrorism, it does look at its romance and consider its effectiveness.
01/17/08
Scarcely an exposé, Terror's Advocate is more plainly a portrait of a man as a timeline.
10/07/07
Engrossing.
10/09/07
Top CriticA panorama of European radicalism.
10/25/07
Top Critic[I]ntriguing enough, if a bit dry. But then a flick that seemed newsy, almost wonky, turns riveting...
11/26/07
An often gripping doc using never-before seen archival films about the self-assured, unrepentant Jacques Verges, who defended some of the most loathsome terrorists and political criminals in modern history.
10/14/07
About halfway through ... the movie's two-hour-plus running time begins to drag, as Shroeder's narrative seems more and more a catalog of events.
10/12/07
A brilliantly shrewd and maddeningly elusive figure, controversial lawyer Jacques Vergès alternately fascinates and repulses in Barbet Schroeder's gripping documentary.
10/12/07
Schroeder's docu offers a chilly, poignant look at Verges, the controversial lawyer who has defended some of the world's biggest political terrorists and war criminals; it belongs in the same league of his other docus about monsters, like Idi Amin.
09/08/07
Schroeder's film, which combines interviews with many of the key figures in Vergès' career with grainy historical footage, lets its subject speak for itself but leaves little doubt of where the filmmaker stands.
11/09/07
Latest News for Terror's Advocate
November 03, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review 
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