Section spéciale

The action takes place in August 1941 in occupied France. A group of young underground communists, having decided to start an armed struggle, adopts the tactic of single attacks on the German military. As a result of their first action, a German officer was killed. The Minister of Internal Affairs of the Vichy collaborationist government, wanting to curry favor with the occupiers, orders the six culprits to be found and punished under the new emergency law. The problem is not only that the execution should take place in a matter of days, and the real perpetrators of the attempt have not been caught, but also that the emergency law should be applied "retroactively." Most lawyers, including the Minister of Justice, see this as an affront to their professional honor. However, "state interests" demand victims, and soon a special department of the appeals court is created, which should consider the case and punish the guilty. Among them, it was decided to use several persons recently convicted for political reasons, whose cases have been reopened ...