Carlos, o chacal

Fast and furious, very much like the mesmerizing Mesrine in its focus on a focused, driven psychopath who ultimately commits crimes for the sense of power and adrenaline they fuel. Character vignettes are sharply portrayed in short, slower-paced scenes that provide rest stops from our own adrenaline rush and illustrate the defining personality traits of the eponymous anti-hero. As one example: the seduction scene in part 2 between Carlos and the German femme terrorist Magdalena Kopp.

Quite simply, like Mesrine, great cinema with action, passion and tragedy, and one of the best movies of the year.

Don't see anything less than the full version. DVR the showing on Sundance or wait for DVDs. The film was shot as a miniseries and there's no reason to see it in a theater, especially if it's the truncated version.

Fascinating 5 hour plus, 3 part film about Carlos the Jackal (although he never actually called himself that) the headline grabbing terrorist of the 70s and 80s.

With little exposition, we're dropped into a whirlwind of violence, self-aggrandizement, sexual seduction, and power games, moving at an almost dizzying speed. The film allows us to slowly figure out Carlos, instead of explain him in a simple facile way.

While never sympathetic, somehow the amazing Edgar Rameriez allows us to feel for this id and ego driven creature, powered far more by the need for attention and adulation (whether from women or the press) than by true belief. Indeed, one of the most interesting things about the film is how (intentionally) shallow and hollow Carlos's political monologues ring.

The last 1/3 is the slowest and hardest to sit through. Carlos's slow decline into ineffectiveness and unimportance is sometimes patience trying. But Rob Nelson, in his excellent Village Voice review makes a strong argument that this is a) unavoidable after the high paced rush of the first two parts and 2) part of the point of the film; without his fixes of women and power there wasn't much to Carlos, and without them both he and we want it to be over.

This is a film I'd like to see again. While I don't quite agree (yet) with the many critics who have hailed this as of the best films of last 10 years, I do think it's a challenging, brilliantly acted, wonderfully made film, that gives context both to modern terrorism and recent world history. Add to that, an exploration of the blurring fine line between power and uncontrolled narcissism that seems to dog leaders (especially male) of all political stripes from Hitler to Bill Clinton to George Bush to Carlos.

That's a lot to cover, even in 5 hours.

When you want to make a movie of a notorious terrorist responsible for many innocent lives, it is a very difficult task: If you portray him in a romantic way you will be accused of glorifying an evil man, while if you portray him in a dark light you will be accused of blind fanaticism.

Director Olivier Assayas has managed to strike a fine balance between these two extremes, and thus he recounts the story of Carlos in an objective and cool-headed way which fascinates the viewer from the beginning to the very end. The story begins with Carlos entering the world of terrorism as a young idealist, and ends with his capture at a time when he has become a corrupt and hedonist man. Throughout this time frame, Assayas shows us the story of a man, who despite his horrendous crimes, his life is really intriguing to watch.

Edgar Ramirez is excellent in the central role, but the important thing in this film is that actually EVERYONE in the film is excellent in his/her role: The acting is superb all around, and at some point it begins to feel as if you are watching a documentary with real terrorists on the screen instead of actors. The direction is also superb, with the the pace being constantly fast and coherent.

A great film to watch. 10/10.

I remember watching the full 3 part mini-series some years ago, and being quite engaged. However I'd strongly recommend not watching any of the abridged versions. I had a DVD for the roughly 170 minute version and was left feeling confused and bored. It's hardly made clear why he has become so notourious. Near the he starts a relationship with a woman who out of nowhere has a child with her. Then that ends almost straight away and he has a new girlfriend, out of nowhere. We see him with the Syrians, then a sequence of the Berlin wall falling is shown, and then immediately after we see the Syrians cutting ties with him. If you want the proper experience, see the full 5+ hours of it.

Olivier Assayas, that astonishingly versatile director, has given us a film about Ilich Ramirez called Carlos. I found a lot of pleasure in the details: for example the singalong by Venezuelan and other exiles in a Paris apartment that turns into a bloodbath when the police enter and try to detain Carlos. The nervous hand-held camera work as the mayhem begins is most effective. The center-piece of any film about Middle Eastern terrorism must be the OPEC hostage taking, and this event Assayas depicts very well.

Carlos made me think of the political dramas the Italians used to do so well: The Mattei Affair and Exquisite Corpses by Rosi, The Battle of Algiers by Pontecorvo. I would give it a higher mark if the running time were not so excessive. The truth is that the last thirty years of this man's life have been pretty uneventful, and don't merit the outlay in time.