Reel Time: Les Chevaliers Blancs
Directed by Joachim Lafosse, 2015
This film was inspired by the highly mediatised true story of Zoe’s Ark – a French NGO whose members were arrested in 2007 for illegally trafficking children they claimed to be orphans from war-torn Darfur. Sentenced to hard labor but eventually extradited to their homeland, the group’s actions – especially those of leader Eric Breteau and his girlfriend, Emilie Lelouch – revealed the dark underside of certain humanitarian aid missions, where those being rescued don’t necessarily need to be rescued. Or do they?
The script recreates the entirety of the failed operation, from the moment the ‘Move FOr Kids’ team lands with supplies in an unnamed African country racked by war, to the final hours of their chaotic departure as they attempt to flee back to France.
Cert: 12
Running time: 112 mins
