“My Enemy’s Enemy” is a reference to the support given Klaus Barbie by the CIA (at least) following WWII by which the “Butcher of Lyon” evaded capture and avoided prosecution for his war crimes for almost 40 years.
The movie is a powerful testament to Barbie’s life-long commitment to torture and abuse, skills he learned as a Nazi, brutal methods he taught the CIA and various South American governments, successful programs of sadistic torture and abuse some of which (“the submarine” whereby victims are held underwater until they believe they are drowning, now known as “waterboarding”) are still known to be in use by the CIA today.
The movie also makes a case for Barbie’s defense argument, that it is hypocritical to prosecute him only when his utility to, particularly, the US has run out and not before, a long-held policy that continues with Hussein and Noriega and certainly many others.
2007 Toronto International Film Festival
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