Movie with Nicolas Sarkozy in Action

A movie about an incident that involved also the current president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has been broadcasted on Tuesday and about 3.4 million of people have watched it thanks to the France 2 television. And because in this television documentary the current president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, is obviously portrayed as a hero, the movie has already fuelled the debate about the president’s domination over the print media and television.
Still, the television documentary is somehow realistic, as it follows the event that happened about 14 years ago. The event was represented by a hostage crisis and the current president of France, who was at the time only a mayor, helped the authorities in negotiating with the troubled man.
The film is called “H.B. Human Bomb” and seems to really focus on Nicolas Sarkozy’s helping end the hostage crisis that involved seven children from a nursery from Paris’ suburb of Neuilly. In May 1993, a masked man that called himself “Human Bomb”, entered the nursery and held the class and their teacher hostage for several hours. The man’s real name was Eric Schmitt and he threatened to detonate his sticks of dynamite that were strapped to his body unless he would received a ransom of 100 million French francs, which meant about 15 million Euros or $21.19 million. The entire incident was broadcasted also by the televisions and many people were really glued to their TV sets by it.
And now, the television documentary brings again the event in the French people’s minds. It mixes scenes that are played by actors with news archives and also with the witness accounts. It also portrays Sarkozy as adopting a bluff tone while seeking to secure the children’s release. “Two children for two bags of dough.” – says actor Frederic Quiring, who plays Nicolas Sarkozy to the actor playing the “Human Bomb”. Quiring is also imitating the current president’s gestures that are emblematic for him even now, after 14 years. He is tilting his head and moving his hands abruptly.
“It’s hard not to smile when watching Nicolas Sarkozy, then mayor of Neuilly and budget minister, haggling like a carpet salesman with Eric Schmitt, the hostage-taker.” – has written the “Le Parisien” newspaper.
The television documentary has been directed by Patrick Poubel and it recounts how the “Human Bomb” released several children into Nicolas Sarkozy’s arms, before the police to shoot him dead after almost two days of drama.
“I observed Nicolas Sarkozy a lot.” – has told for the “Le Point” newspaper Quiring, that actor that is playing Sarkozy, adding that “It wasn’t too hard to find material because at the time of the filming, in February/March, he just started the presidential campaign and was everywhere in the media.”
And it is just this constant presence on the nation’s television screens and newspapers that seems to bother some people in France. The opposition Socialists have already complained about Nicolas Sarkozy’s domination of the airwaves to the CSA broadcasting watchdog, asking it to look at the amount of air time he enjoys.
Furthermore another group, which is calling itself Democracy in Television, appears to be so fed up with what it sees as a growing presidential personality cult that it has urged media to respect a “Sarkozy Free Day” on the 30th of November. In the same way, even the ministers seems to be constantly overshadowed by the energetic president, as his omnipresence seems to be cause already rifts within the government.
However, despite this criticism, Nicolas Sarkozy still retains high poll ratings and people seem to love him. So, the new movie will be probably a new reason for them to remember why they’ve chosen him as their president.

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