In New Caledonia, in 1988, there is an incident in which French policemen are taken as hostages and killed. Philippe, head of the unit, arrives in the scene with his subordinates to negotiate, but realizes that it was just an accident, not the result of terrorism. As Philippe is about to conclude the negotiation in a humane way, the government gives a special order and the situation is suddenly reversed. Mathieu Kassovitz, a French director, who works in the front line of political realism, starred in as well as directed this film. This film audaciously recounts incidents that actually took place in New Caledonia when Francois Mitterrand from the Socialist Party and Jacques Chirac, a conservative, were opposed to each other just before the presidential election of May 1988. What is noticeable is the scale of the film, which dynamically depicts an individual’s desperate but hopeless efforts made against the gigantic system of the military and the government. The film’s French title, [L'Ordre et la morale], is an ironic reference to a statement made by Minister Pons at that time. (RHEE, Soue-won)