Diên Biên Phu, Le Rapport Secret

Overview

In April 1954, the French army suffered a heavy defeat in the Diên Biên Phu basin. This military setback ended French presence in Indochina and sealed the region's independence. A few months after the fall of Diên Biên Phu, two generals, Henri Navarre and René Cogny, blamed each other for the debacle. In April 1955, a commission of inquiry was convened. It did not deliver its conclusions until December. The report was damning for General Cogny, who was accused of failing to follow orders. It is this report, which was never made public, that Patrick Jeudy's documentary seeks to bring to life, through the prism of the accusations, wrongdoings, and faults established by the commission.