Terror's Advocate

After a prologue which shows Vergès downplaying Khmer Rouge atrocities and emphasizing the U.S. role in the Cambodian genocide, the film flashes back to his postwar involvement as an anticolonial activist and lawyer for the National Liberation Front (FLN) of Algeria. Is depicted in particular his fight for Djamila Bouhired's liberation. The film highlights the unofficial role of lawyers as liaison agents between prisoners in the Algerian revolution and Vergès' original technique of defense, called "rupture strategy," in which the lawyer accuses the prosecution of the same offense as the defendant. It then chronicles Vergès' efforts to act in favor of the Palestinian fedayeen.