The Wooden Gun (original title Le Fusil de Bois) was one of the first – and few – movies dealing with the Algerian independence war. It won several awards and highly positive reviews. 89 minutes-long, it is often shown on French television. The action takes place in 1960. The war is dragging on and confusion reigns. De Gaulle is secretly negotiating with the rebels and the military brass is feeling betrayed while the draftees wonder what this war is really about.  Based on Pierre Delerive''s own novel Simple Soldat, The Wooden Gun is the story of Lagrange, a retarded farm boy drafted in the French army as the result of an error. While waiting for Lagrange''s discharge papers, Lieutenant Morin, a career officer whose mission is to patrol a part of the electrified fence along the Tunisian border, needs him to be part of his headcount. Worried about the risk posed by the unpredictable Lagrange, Morin arms the retarded soldier with a wooden replica of a sub-machine gun. Dallers is the college-educated NCO responsible for Lagrange. At first he wants as little to do with Lagrange as possible. As he witnesses the constant abuse the young man is subjected to, Dallers comes to realize how defenseless the retarded boy is.

And one night the Fellaghas attack …