L'assassinat de Trotsky

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.

I should have read a biography of Trotsky before seeing this film. I knew little about him before, and I don't know any more about him after watching this. This is a dreadful muddled film that seeks to conceal facts about Trotsky and make everything unclear. A prologue to the film ended with (I'm paraphrasing) "What events are unclear have been left that way". That should have served as a warning to me.

The setting is Mexico in 1940. Trotsky goes about his last days dictating his memoirs, talking to his wife, escaping assassination attempts by Stalin's agents (why--the viewer is only told Trotsky's ideas would mean the end of Stalin's regime), asking when the rabbit food for his rabbits will be delivered, and other such events. A paid assassin figures in this, but lacks the nerve to actually do his job. He takes more than two attempts. The film finally ends with the title event, which is staged like something out of a Hammer film, and has everyone screaming and bellowing.

Richard Burton as Trotsky does a lot of pontificating and dictating, but never shows what made Trotsky tick. Alan Delon as the assassin is expressionless and mostly silent until the end; then he and Burton seem in a contest to see who can bellow loudest (a tie) and longest (Delon). Cortese fades into the background.

There is a ten minute bullfighting scene that has no purpose. There are murals by Diego Rivera featured in the film (I know because they were mentioned in the credits). There is a horrid atonal score by Egisto Macchi. I'd recommend you pass on this one.

I saw this film when it came out, in 1972, and it made such an impression on me that I have a clear recollection of it now. I just visited the Trotsky Museum in Mexico City, the house where he was assassinated. He was in fact killed with an ax--there are photos in the museum of the actual murder weapon that is exactly like the one depicted in the film. So the commentator who makes such a big point about it being an ice pick is uninformed. This commentator may also be unaware that Joseph Losey was one of the great British filmmakers of his generation, so it's perfectly natural that he make films in English.

What is good about the film? Richard Burton's ability to convey the charisma of Trotsky, the combination of visionary and pragmatic politician who had the misfortune to be outmaneuvered by two equally powerful men with far fewer scruples, Lenin and Stalin. Alain Delon's portrayal of the ice-cold assassin, motivated not by ideology nor even by money, nor in fact any discernible force other than his own profound emptiness. One of Delon's best roles ever.

The cinematography is extremely powerful. As I say, 30 years later, the images are clear in my mind.

Time to rehabilitate this film, folks. There's a lot of trash out there with higher ratings than this 4.6, so if you've seen it, add your vote. If you haven't, try to see it, and vote what you think it's merit is.

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!

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