A former French minister, Bernard Pons, says he is indignant about the French feature film based on the 1988 Ouvea massacre in New Caledonia.
The film by Mathieu Kassovitz, whose English title is Rebellion, is to be released in a month.
But New Caledonia's only cinema operator says it won't screen it for fear of causing resentment.
Mr Pons, who was the Overseas Territories Minister at the time of the assault to end the hostage crisis, says he has seen the film with indignation, sadness and astonishment.
He says he expected the film director to have cared about being objective.
The movie is based on a book by the police commander in charge at the time but Mr Pons says he has given contradictory accounts of what happened.
