Based on a true story, the latest from Belgian director Michaël R. Roskam adds conspicuous flourishes but no real zip to a wartime film staged like a lackluster crime caper.
By Vadim Rizov
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Courtesy of Goodfellas “Le Faux Soir” sources its high concept — hijacking state media propaganda’s fake news to tell the truth — from Second World War history. In 1943, disgruntled anarchist and poet Marc Aubrion (Arieh Worthalter) is recruited by the Belgian Resistance, which publishes its own underground newspaper. Marc’s brainwave is to reach outside the bubble of their already-captured readership by printing a fake edition of “Le Soir” — a once-venerable newspaper publishing Nazi propaganda under direct Gestapo supervision — to reach citizens the Resistance otherwise never would. A stolid two-plus hours directed with some surface frills by Michaël R. Roskam (“Bullhead,” “The Drop”), “Le Faux Soir” will appeal to elderly audiences hungry for low-impact prestige period fare with a reassuring message.
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