El asesinato de Trotsky

So-so and unhistorical attempt attempt to dramatize the last days of the Russian Revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky in Mexico , when his ideas accordingly shrink in importance . For one moment , they hold history in their hands . With one terrible blow , they make it .

Thrilling and interesting film dealing with Trotsky's last couple of months in exile in Mexico. Revolving around a web of intrigue , concerning a twisted conspiracy of terror resulting in an act of madness carried out by Stalinist agents got to him . There are some brilliant scenes as the bullfighting scenes or the mise in scene of the murder , being competently shot . Main and secondary cast are frankly good . Richard Burton gives a nice acting , portraying him as a dry and pedantic figure, as he was the famous leader who commanded Red Army during the Civil War against the White troops , and eventually , he's done in with an ice pick . Support cast is pretty well, such as : Valentina Cortese as Trotsky's kind wife , Romy Schneider who is wasted seeming like an unfinished role , Enrico Maria Salerno as Salazar , Jean Desailly , Duilio Del Prete , Michael Forest , Hunt Powers , among others .

It contains an atmospheric cinematography by Pasqualino De Santis , however , a perfect remastering being really necessary . The picture was profesionally and deliberately directed by Joseph Losey , though it has some flaws, gaps and shortcomings . Here Losey doesn't give too much historical remarks , we're so starved of hard information that one can only wish for more . The American Losey was a good director on his own , making nice films as in USA as Great Britain where he exiled pursued by the HUAC -House Un-American Activities Committee- , as he made the following important movies : The boy with Green Hair , The Lawless , The Prowler , M , The Big Night , Time without pity , The Criminal, The Damned , Modesty Blaise , Secret Ceremony , Figures in a Landscape , The Go-betwen , Accident , A Doll's House , King and Country, Boom , Galileo, The Romantic Englshwoman , Mr Klein, and The Servant at his best .

While this certainly doesn't deserve to be included in Michael Medved's "50 Worst Films Of All Time" book, it's nonetheless a disappointment when considering the talent involved!

An unconvincingly made-up Richard Burton is a good Trotsky (even if director Losey had originally wanted Dirk Bogarde); the film takes pains to depict the family-man (embittered by the Stalinists' extermination of his children) as well as the politician. Though struggling with the often unwieldy English dialogue, Alain Delon is ideally cast as the slick but icy and enigmatic assassin; still, his final break-down comes across as absurd more than anything else. However, the feminine roles in the film result in being no more than perfunctory: Romy Schneider carries on a tedious romance with Delon (they were once lovers in real-life), while Valentina Cortese appears as Trotsky's dowdy wife. Also notable in the cast is Giorgio Albertazzi as the police inspector investigating an earlier attempt on Trotsky's life; Luis Bunuel regular Claudio Brook appears unbilled in one scene as Delon's 'contact man' in Mexico.

The subject matter, in itself, isn't exactly appetizing – but some of Burton's speeches are undeniably compelling (one of which mentions that Trotsky feared he'd succumb to a brain hemorrhage – the uncanny irony is that Burton himself died in that manner, and at approximately the same age as the Russian leader!) and the interaction between him and Delon towards the end generates a reasonable amount of tension (culminating in Trotsky's bloody and protracted assassination). Still, at the end of the day, Losey's treatment of events is surprisingly lifeless (especially for a Hollywood exile from the anti-Communist days!) and of a seriousness which is oppressive (including the obvious use of symbolism via a gory bullfight sequence).

P.S. Incredibly enough, the afore-mentioned Bunuel (my personal favorite film-maker) once spent a night in a Mexican jail – with none other than Trotsky's real-life killer as his cell-mate!

Remember that opening line from The Stranglers' great song from the late-70s, 'No More Heroes'? Well this film provides us with a precise answer to that question, rather than the song's own rather flippant retort ("He got an ice-pick that made his ears burn"). 'The Assassination of Trotsky' is a fascinating story and one that deserves telling. At first Richard Burton seems a bit one-dimensional but as the film develops his performance evolves to reveal the revolutionary's personal charisma, his considerable intelligence, and his devotion to Marxism and his beloved wife. Alain Delon is simply riveting as the emotionally retarded Jacson - ultimately revealing him to be a pathetic individual, and Romy Schneider is brilliantly passionate in her role as Jacson's lover and Trotsky's devoted secretary. Although flawed in parts (with a script that was clearly chopped by the studios), this is an intense, realistic examination of Trotsky's last few months, with a quite stunning murder, where Losey puts the viewer in Jacson's shoes to devastating effect. A genuinely chilling moment in very fine, though admittedly patchy, film.

There are times you go to a video rental and don't know exactly what to get, so you just take a look at the shelves and try to get the best films you can. Today I had one of these moments. While I was there, I saw "O Assassinato de Trotsky" (Assassination of Trotsky, in Portuguese).When I saw it was starred by Richard Burton, Alain Delon and Romy Schneider, I decided I should try it... thanks goodness I did. Although it's a bit slow, the film is really good. It's pure history (and I LOVE historical movies). The performances are great, the direction is memorable and the soundtrack is touching. In some moments we feel shocked (the scene of the bull fight, for example) but it's really worth watching.

My rate 8/10

This film has a reputation as a terrible film which I find greatly undeserved. It is average in the sense there are better films and there are worse. I found the film to be fairly static. The story is slow moving and the character of the assassin is never really delineated. Alain Delon is the true lead of the film, with Burton's Trotsky more a secondary character. I thought Burton did a fine job as Trotsky, the only think slightly bothering me is that Burton was physically imposing and that's not how I picture Trotsky. I picture him as more of a bookish intellectual of less than physically imposing attributes. (I do not know the actual physical attributes of Trotsky.)

In any case, Romy Schneider is very lovely and sexy and the camera also treats Delon well, even if we do not have any clear insight to his motivation. In the end, I'm not sure what the purpose of this film was and that is its greatest failure. But, while the film did not succeed, there is nothing memorably bad about it. So my rating falls plum in the middle.