Anthony Hopkins stars with Kristin Scott Thomas, Derek Jacobi, Brenda Bruce, and Timothy Watson in "The Tenth Man," an adaptation of a novel by Graham Greene.
During World War II, an attorney in Pris, Jean Louis Chavel (Hopkins) is picked up on the street by the Nazis and thrown in a group prison with other men. It's part of a routine roundup. Wrong place, wrong time.
The men are informed that three of them will be executed in the morning because of some French malfeasance. The group is to choose who will be killed. The prisoners rip up a letter and mark three with an X. They then each draw a piece of paper from a shoe.
When Chavel draws a paper with an X, he panics, and offers 100,000 francs to anyone who will take his place. The men laugh. How could anyone enjoy the money from there? However, one man, Michel Mangeot (Watson) is interested. He has a bad cough, and at this point, would rather die than stay in horrible conditions.
Chavel offers him 300,000 francs and his country home. He signs everything over to Mangeot. Mangeot then writes a will, witnessed by two prisoners, and leaves everything to his sister and mother.
Three years later, the war over, Chavel is a free man. He is a man with nothing and must beg on the street. He walks to his old house. There he sees Therese, Mangeot's sister. She is used to hobos coming to the house for food and offers him some. He gives her a fake name.
Chavel then realizes the deep hatred Therese and her mother have for this Chavel, a coward who let their brother die. Therese's dream is that she will meet him and spit in his face. Then she intends to kill him.
Needing help with the house and grounds, she has Chavel stay and work for her. Over time, an attraction develops. Then one night, during a storm, there is a frantic knock at the door. The man (Derek Jacobi) identifies himself as Jean Louis Chavel.
Normally I take these things for what they are, but I did wonder how Chavel managed to live imprisoned over the next three years, and also if anyone else was executed.
This film serves as a reminder of several things - committing something one perceives as a bad deed does not make the person bad, everyone has good and bad in them, and hatred that is allowed to fester cannot bring any happiness.
Hopkins is fantastic as a terrified man who has no understanding of what's happened to him. Through his performance, one really feels the horror of being picked up and taken from your life for no reason.
Kristin Scott Thomas beautifully portrays a lonely, angry, bitter woman who has isolated herself from the world.
The production values are good.
"The Tenth Man" is truly a gem that deserves a DVD release. It is a powerful film.
