Michaël R Roskam is back where we didn’t necessarily expect him, with Le Faux Soir, unveiled at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Special Presentations programme and soon to screen as the out-of-competition closing film in the San Sebastián International Film Festival. This electric period piece revisits an episode as mind-boggling as it is inspiring in Belgian history: the production and brazen distribution, right under the Nazi occupier’s nose, of a fake edition of the newspaper Le Soir, a daily that had become a mouthpiece for the occupier while still sitting proudly on the newsstands.

The story kicks off to the sound of an air-raid siren, with all of Brussels taking shelter as the Gestapo pays a visit to Soir’s newsroom. Marc Aubrion (Arieh Worthalter), an anarchist poet, believes in the power of his verses to counter barbarity — words against guns. By a stroke of luck, he crosses paths with an underground resistance network with which he will hatch a decidedly audacious plan: to use one of the Nazis’ most powerful weapons against them: propaganda. Under the command of Françoise (Mélanie Thierry), a mysterious yet efficient network leader, an Avengers-style team assembles (including Bouli Lanners, Karim Leklou, Julien Frison, Mara Taquin, Peter Van den Begin, François Damiens…), each with a clearly defined task and the unshakeable belief that every action counts. They have 22 days to achieve the impossible: to write, print and distribute a genuine fake edition of the newspaper Le Soir, which will ridicule the Nazi regime and collaborators of every stripe.

Sometimes history is the best screenwriter, and the story behind Faux Soir brings together all the ingredients for a gripping film: suspense, camaraderie, courage, danger, human passions, and even humour, since the copy destined for print was openly satirical. The challenge, however, is to fuse all these elements with skill and inspiration into a living whole — a punchy film which is historical without being pompous and entertaining without being hollow. Roskam opts to carry over the humour inherent in the resistance texts into the film’s tone, particularly in the interplay between his many characters, capitalising on the inevitable misunderstandings born of clandestinity and on his heroes’ distinctly Bruxellois patter, while also embracing the almost didactic dimension of this historical testimony to the operation’s incredible ingenuity. He lingers, with relish, over the complexity of the operation, shooting it as if it were the heist of the century, detailing the technical process up-close to the presses - decisive machines which are magnified here by the director - and the excellent score composed by French musician Chassol. The whirling ballet of the many resistance members indispensable to mounting the operation also underlines the need to act collectively against barbarity, with bravery at work in every link of the chain.

This meticulous reconstruction plunges us into Second World War Brussels, at times playfully adopting a comic-book air, turning down shady streets and introducing a few sinister characters. The story skips along, making a complex logistical operation truly riveting. Ultimately, Le Faux Soir triumphs by embracing its lofty, laudable ambitions with fervour and sincerity, delivering a popular film which is as edifying as it is entertaining.

Le Faux Soir was produced by Frakas Productions (Belgium), in co-production with Rectangle Productions (France) and Harbor Men Pictures (Belgium). International sales are being handled by Goodfellas. The film will be released on 2 December in Belgium, distributed by Cinéart, and on 27 January in France, distributed by ARP Sélection.