Lost Command

The war drama Lost Command, directed by Mark Robinson and based on the best-selling 1960 novel Les Centurions by Jean Lartéguy, explores France's loss of political control and military defeat in Indochina and Algeria through the eyes of a group of paratroopers. After suffering a humiliating defeat at Dien Bien Phu in the spring of 1954, Lt. Col. Pierre-Noel Raspeguy, played by Anthony Quinn, attempts to resurrect his reputation in Algeria. Loyalty among his group of paratroopers begins to fracture when one of them, an Algerian, joins the National Liberation Front (FLN). Others grow disillusioned with counter-insurgency measures against civilians and the overall French colonial project. The film was banned in France until 1970.