Iabe Lapacas Rebellion Interview

Iabe Lapacas Rebellion Interview

Cast: Mathieu Kassovitz, Iabe Lapacas, Malik Zidi
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Genre: Action, Drama, History
Running Time: 129 minutes

Synopsis: April 1988, Ouvéa Island in the French colony of New Caledonia. 30 policemen are kidnapped by Kanak separatists.
300 French special-forces operatives are sent to restore order.
Two men face off: Philippe Legorjus, captain of the GIGN, an elite counter-terrorism police unit, and Alphonse Dianou, the rebels' leader.
They attempt to find a peaceful solution based on common values and dialogue.
But, against the backdrop of presidential elections in France, the political stakes are high, and order is not necessarily a moral question.
With this violent and troubling saga based on real-life events, Mathieu Kassovitz makes a powerful comeback in front of and behind the camera.

Release Date: April 12th, 2012
Website: www.lordreetlamorale-lefilm.com

Interview with Iabe Lapacas

Question: Before we talk about Rebellion, what do you do and what had you done before you were contacted to play Alphonse Dianou?

Iabe Lapacas: I'm currently a law student in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and I work for a community radio station interviewing bands and artists coming through Clermont. I host a music show on which, as we're an alternative media, we play bands other radio or TV stations don't air. I'm 28 years old. I was born in Nouméa and grew up on Lifou, an island near Ouvéa, until I was six when I moved to Nouméa with my mother for school. After that, I moved to France to go to college. I started studying Political Science at Villeneuve d'Ascq University in Lille, but I realized it wasn't for me, so I changed tack. I moved south to Clermont-Ferrand, where I'm close to finishing my MA in corporate and banking law, while preparing for the bar exam so I can keep my options open.


Question: When and how did you hear about Mathieu Kassovitz's planned movie about the events in Ouvéa?

Iabe Lapacas: Three to four years ago, I think, when local media in New Caledonia mentioned he was planning to shoot a film there and had already sent a small crew out. For me personally, it all began in late April last year when I was studying for my exams. I received a phone call: "Hi, I'm David Bertrand, casting director on Mathieu Kassovitz's movie Rebellion..." I said, "Yeah, sure," thinking it was a hoax. I was about to hang up, but he said, "No, don't hang up. Jean Boisserie gave me your name and number." Jean Boisserie is a "big brother" who's an actor. He's from back home and came to France in the 1960s. He met David when he was casting the Kanak and GIGN roles for the film. David told him he was also looking for a guy to play Alphonse Dianou and Jean thought of me, without even knowing I was related to Alphonse. He told David, "Call him and make sure you tell him first up that I gave you his number or he'll never talk to you."


Question: What did he ask you to do at the audition?

Iabe Lapacas: David had sent me three or four scenes and he had me read through in his hotel room and on the roof. Less than a week later, he called me back to say Mathieu wanted to see me, but I had an internship in May. Eventually, I made it to Paris to see Mathieu in late May.


Question: Did being an actor appeal to you, beyond the part he was offering you? Had you ever acted before?

Iabe Lapacas: Only in primary school! I remember acting in two school plays and enjoying it, but that's all. To answer your first question, I didn't see things in those terms. Back home-I mean, in the Kanak community-we don't take an individual approach. We have a place in the family that must be respected, and my place, as I'm not married, is as a child. So, I had to ask my parents' permission. I wouldn't have made the movie without it. First, I mentioned it to my older brother, who was living in southern France at the time. He told me, "Go and see Kassovitz, ask him who he saw back home, why he wants to make this film, what he did in Ouvéa, and so on. We'll see what he says and talk to the old folks." I met with Mathieu and asked him all those questions. He explained his project to me, gave me the script to read and told me that my aunt, Alphonse Dianou's sister, had given her agreement to the film. I told him I had to ask for my parents' permission and I told them the story. They said, "If auntie has agreed to do it, do it."


Question: What appealed to you or touched you most in the screenplay?

Iabe Lapacas: I thought it was very well written. It was the first time I read a movie script and I caught myself picturing the action in my mind as I read it. I understood Mathieu's idea of focusing on Legorjus and using the Kanaks' cause, or that of the independence movement, as a counterpoint. If I hadn't liked the script, I wouldn't have done it.


Question: You were very young when the events occurred. What memories of them do you have?

Iabe Lapacas: In 1988, I was six years old, so I don't have many direct recollections of events. Besides, back home, we don't talk about it much. We discuss it without really discussing it, as if in some way our parents are trying to protect us, as if they don't want to pollute our minds with that. It was definitely a tragedy, though, and a very complex event from a political point of view.


Question: What struck you when you met Mathieu Kassovitz the first time?

Iabe Lapacas: His total commitment to his movie. Total commitment! I knew his movies. I'd seen La Haine, Crimson Rivers and Babylon A.D. I'd even seen the first music video he made, Peuple du monde, for Tonton David. He was exactly like the guy I knew from the TV. He fitted the idea I had of him. Afterwards, I got to know him better, but when I met him all that mattered to me were his deep-rooted motivations: why did he want to make this movie?


Question: What really convinced you in what he told you?

Iabe Lapacas: His whole journey with Olivier Rousset back home. It was important. If he hadn't made that trip, I'm not sure I'd have accepted. To direct a film like this, there was a path to follow and he followed it. Where Mathieu's genius came out was in making a complex story intelligible and comprehensible, even though he takes Legorjus's viewpoint by working from his novel, Morality and Action. Anyway, he says himself that he wouldn't have made this movie-or shot it from that viewpoint, at least-if Legorjus hadn't resigned from the GIGN. Which I can understand, for the film's integrity and his integrity as an artist. If Legorjus was still with the GIGN, it would have been like making a movie defending the special forces. Something else that swayed me is that he dares to raise what happened in the cave at Ouvéa. Talking about that means talking about the troubles, the Kanak people's struggle against the French colonial system of the time. Mathieu took note of everything people told him in New Caledonia-those who supported the project from the outset, the inhabitants and the families of Ouvéa. Mathieu's genius really expressed itself there. He succeeded in capturing it in his screenplay and, now that I've seen the movie, bringing it to the screen.


Question: Are you personally an activist?

Iabe Lapacas: All I can say is that it's a chapter in our history and our history inhabits us. That's why I said earlier that when you give your word, it's not as an individual but for the whole family. It wasn't fear that made me hesitate. I had to be sure that I was on the right path. The events in the cave in Ouvéa marked the end of the most violent period in the civil war that took place from 1984-1988 and led to the Matignon agreements. Talking about that episode means talking about a controversial period that caused so much debate without us ever being able to give our version of the story because one of the conditions of the Matignon agreements was the amnesty that everybody on both sides wanted, including both the loyalists and separatists back home. Trouble is, "amnesty" is derived from the same Greek word as "amnesia." Choosing an amnesty to avoid legal proceedings also resulted in memory loss. That's where Mathieu's film is particularly daring. It's not about choosing sides, it simply tells a story of events that happened but don't feature in textbooks and aren't taught in schools. And like I told you, even back home, nobody talks about it. It's a story that took place in Kanaky, but it's also a French story. Talking about this story means talking about our history. It's also a universal story. You don't get involved in something epic like this lightly. Personally, I was almost the last person to join the project. In the end, the story came to me, and making this movie amounted to finding answers to my questions.


Question: Once you were chosen and agreed to do it, did you do any research into Alphonse Dianou?

Iabe Lapacas: The information came to me quite naturally. Olivier Rousset arrived in France from back home and told me about it. Auntie Patou (Alphonse Dianou's sister) had given him a letter for me. I called her. She sensitized me to certain issues and gave me encouragement, like the mamas do back home. I could draw on that. I also drew on the knowledge of people who knew him and those who were with him in the cave. I was able to question them and talk to those of them who were on the shoot in Anaa in Polynesia.


Question: Did you set out to look like Alphonse Dianou?

Iabe Lapacas: No. Even Mathieu didn't want that. From the beginning, I didn't want to be imitating him but playing the part of Alphonse. The important thing was the spirit of the character. Playing Alphonse Dianou is, as my Kanak poet-brother Denis Pourawa would say, like simultaneously carrying a burden and a feather. A burden because of the weight of the Kanak people's struggle and a feather because I'm a member of his family, so for me it was like playing my big brother.


Question: Now that you've played him and have a better understanding of who he was, what touches you most about him?

Iabe Lapacas: His unconditional commitment, which keyed into what my parents taught me: work with love, respect and humility. Like Legorjus, Alphonse was a man of faith. That's why they got on so well. They both almost took holy orders. One chose to become a soldier and the other went into politics. Getting to know the man opened my eyes to what unites us.


Question: Did it make you want to keep acting?

Iabe Lapacas: Why not? It will depend on the parts I'm offered, but there's only one Mathieu Kassovitz. Mathieu is a great director of actors. He lets people take their time, come to terms with the requirements of the job-his actors, at least, because it's a whole different ball game for the crew! He trusts you and that trust boosts your confidence and faith in yourself.


Question: How would you define Mathieu Kassovitz as a director?

Iabe Lapacas: Never on time! Very intuitive and very good when the pressure's on. Nothing was absolutely preordained. Mathieu's in command but gives everybody plenty of freedom. He's like an orchestra conductor. Often tense, which is only natural seeing the sums at stake. Definitely an artist.


Question: What would you like audiences to remember about the movie?

Iabe Lapacas: First of all, I'd like them to grasp the Kanak people's struggle for its independence. And also for it to remind politicians of their responsibilities because they often dodge them. Politics should be about stopping people settling conflicts in an eye-for-an-eye or survival-of-the-fittest kind of way. The French title emphasizes that, but you can interpret it in different ways: French colonial order versus morality, the Kanak spirit and ethics; or French order versus the morality of people whose job it is to maintain order, versus morality as politicians are supposed to embody it. Did politicians betray the French nation or not? Did they betray the democratic ideals of the French republic or not? People will decide for themselves. The same goes for us on the Kanak side. Our uncles, papas and youth were fighting for a cause and they became fighters in every sense of the word because the political body that was supposed to represent and protect them, the FLNKS (Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front) did not take responsibility at the time.