I... comme Icare

''I as in Icarus'' is a slow-paced yet very tense French conspiracy thriller that convinces with a realistic plot inspired by true events, an intense series of investigations and a strong acting carried by Yves Montand as incorruptible prosecutor.

The movie is obviously inspired by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Just as in the true case, the president of an anonymous, globalized and modern country gets assassinated in his car by a sniper. Just as in the original case, the main suspect dies under mysterious circumstances and is declared the sole executor of the crime. Just as in the historical events, a prosecutor refuses to accept this thesis and investigates further, unveiling step by step an unspeakable conspiracy that might shake up the world as one knows it.

Another inspiration for the movie comes from the fall of Chilean president Salvador Allende and the rise of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. It's important to know that lead actor Yves Montand was raised in a communist family and had openly criticized the violent revolution in Chile prior to the making of this movie. While more conservative viewers might criticize this movie for its underlying anti-governmental left-wing message, this film can't be seen as a propaganda picture since it raises far more questions than it actually answers. In addition to this, the film was at the pulse of its time when conspiracy theories were quite popular.

Another important element of this movie is the Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures which is shown, explained and analyzed in detail in relation to mass genocides such as the abominable crimes of Nazi Germany in this film. This element is related to potential executors being used such as pawns in a game of chess.

All these elements offer a lot of food for thought to the viewer and also request quite some background knowledge, especially for younger contemporary audiences who might not be familiar with the events and experiments mentioned above. This is what makes this movie intellectually challenging, profoundly philosophical and an authentic document of its time in retrospective. This factual approach of the movie translates into detailed conversations, precise investigations and a unique ending as opposed to more emotional, stereotypical and vivid conspiracy movies in the key of bigger Hollywood pictures. Even though some elements of the film might seem old-fashioned today, the film's plot is still unusually captivating which makes this movie one of the very best of its kind.

To keep it short, this is one of the very best, if not the best conspiracy thriller of all times. It's unconventional, rebellious and realistic as it's clearly inspired by social and political events of the sixties and seventies. More than anything, it's an intellectually challenging film about the price of truth. Concerning its intentions, it makes me think of the equally brilliant ''Twelve Angry Men''. Those who like clever suspense movies should definitely be familiar with this often forgotten and still underrated masterpiece. Those who are simply looking for an entertaining crime film, might have to deal with some information overload.

Highly controversial examination of a magnicide from the viewpoint of an intelligent investigator . A recent and fictional re-elected President of a fictitious state has been assassinated, similar to death JFK's 1963 . As a magnicide takes place , then a determined , stubborn prosecutor investigates and while emerging a dark and twisted conspiracy behind it . In the course of his search he proves a different look at the strange deeds . In this especulation the investigator organizes an expert team and he finds evidence that casts serious doubt on the committee's "lone-gunman" theory. Things go wrong when happen deaths of many of those involved , including several witnesses , the supression or ignoring of evidence by others and as the event leading to unexpected consequences , adding a surprising finale .

Riveting , persuasive thriller , this is a fascinating account of an assassination , after that , one of the members , Ives Montand , of the investigation committee refuses to sign the final report and is given the task of investigating once more . The picture stills grips almost throughout because of the subject and Montand's exploration and examination of it . Political thriller inspired by the conspiracy theories surrounding the magnicide of JFK's 1963 . A very bold and clever yarn that basically told the "JFK" story thinly posing as having taken place not in North America . Considered to be by some to be a cinematic masterpiece , others see it as a revisionist and provoking story that should be taken with a grain of salt . However, the phsychological test sequence which is admittedly a bit boring and a little over long, being based on the Milgram experiments at the university of Yale. As the picture follows in the wake of ¨Executive action¨ 1973 by David Miller and the notorious JFK 1991 by Oliver Stoner starred by Kevin Costner as prosecutor Garrison , an alike-character Ives Montand . Ives Montand gives conviction to his role as Le procureur Henri Volney . Although plenty of unknown secondaries , being poorly support cast . No matter , the facts win out here . It is very well acted by Ives Montand who had a long and prolific career as Europe as Hollywood , he even played with Marilyn Monroe in Let's make love . He starred a great number of films , being his first great hit : Wagers of fear . Following Gates of the night , Grand Prix , Is Paris burning ? , Le sauvage , On a clear day you can see , Red Circle , Jean de Florette , Manon des Sources , among others . And he performed various controversial and political films as Stage of siege , Guerra est finie, Special section , The confession and Z .

The picture contains an attractive score by maestro Ennio Morricone and is splendidly directed by Henry Verneuil, a Turkish director working in France from the 40s. Although not a director of great reputation among the critics, his movies have almost all been aimed squarely at the commercial market. Verneuil is an expert on heist-genre such as he proved in ¨The Sicilians clan(68)¨ also with Gabin and Delon, ¨The burglars(1971)¨with Omar Shariff and Jean Paul Belmondo , furthermore on Warlike genre : ¨Weekend at Dunkirk¨and ¨The 25th hour¨and only one Western : Guns of San Sebastian(68)¨. He seemed to have dropped out of the film-making after 1976, but in 1981 unexpectedly reappeared with yet another of his caper film : ¨Thousand millions of dollars¨. Rating : Good movie and above average, a must see for Ives Montand fans .

Henri Verneuil's film may be not so famous as Parallax View, 3 Days of the Condor or JFK but it is certainly not worse and sometimes even better than these classic representatives of the genre. Action takes place in fictional western state where fictional president has been killed. After several years of investigation, special government commission decides that president was killed by a lone gunman. But one man - prosecutor Volney, played by Yves Montand - thinks there's something more to be investigated and so the film starts. This movie doesn't deal with some exact theories, but it embraces the whole structure of relationship between government and society in today's world. Such film could be made only in the 1970-ies but it will never lose it's actuality. Furthermore, it's even a bit frightful how precise are it's oracles. 10 out of 10.

Henri Verneuil was one of France's top movie makers and this film is a prime example of that. It is based on the JFK assassination but takes place in a fictitious country ( not France or America ) and treats the whole affair in great detail. Although the language of the film is French, the décors are deliberately impersonal and not typical of any country or indeed typical of all countries (!! if you see what I mean ) Yves Montand is excellent as the investigator, I find this kind of role suits him well just as in Police Python 357 - a solitary man making tendious and throrough investigations The film is constructed in such a way that you never get bored even through the phsychological test sequence which is admittedly a little over long. The film has not been shown on French TV for some time and is not available on DVD here but I see Police Python 357 appears recently on DVD so I 'm sure that I comme Icare will surely follow suit.

I saw this movie the first time about 20 vears ago, when I was a teenager. Quite shocking then, it now reveals some lacks, though it´s still one of my favourites. I saw it last week, after I recorded it (German version) from TV. The plot is very close to the JFK murder facts, and the authors didn´t want to hide that. Look for the names, "Daslow" becomes "Oswald" when You rearrange the characters. :-) The too long chapter concerning the psychological experiment (based on the Milgram experiments at the university of Yale) is a little bit out of place.

But for the rest ... but see Yourself, You won´t regret it!

Gerhard