Film of the Week: 10

Carlos (2010)

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez was a pro-Palestinian terrorist from Táchira, Venezuela who joined the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1970. He then took on the code name 'Carlos' due to his South American roots and later dubbed 'The Jackal' or Carlos the Jackal by The Guardian after being spotted with a copy of the great novel 'The Day of the Jackal'.

He was responsible for many terrorist acts in the 1970s and the 1980s with several failed bombings and the attack on the headquarters of OPEC in Vienna with 60 hostages and 3 killings. A year later he was arrested in Yugoslavia and taken to Baghdad and later settled in Yemen.  There he is believed to have planned his many attacks on multiple European targets, most notably the 1981 bombing of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's headquarters in Munich.

In 1994, Carlos underwent a minor testicular operation in Sudan and was to be transferred to a villa for protection but was then tranquilized and taken to the villa by his bodyguards. He then found himself in Paris where he was arrested and taken to trial which began in 1997.

Carlos the Jackal (now)

After being found guilty of several attacks and murders, he was moved from La Santé to the Clairvaux Prison in France. In 2001 he converted to Islam and even wrote a book titled ‘Revolutionary Islam’; in it he shows his support to Osama bin Laden and his attacks on the United States.

Now, only a few days ago on November 7th, Carlos is back on trial and is accused of the bombings in France in the 1980s where 11 have been killed and almost 150 wounded. The 62 year old Jackal shows no effort in keeping his past a secret from the press yet denies all the recent clams of the French bombings.

With Carlos back in the spotlight, I immediately thought of last year’s amazing 3-part television mini series. However it was released at the Cannes Film Festival and a theatrical version was also released. It stared Édgar Ramírez who does a phenomenal job as Carlos the Jackal.

Édgar Ramírez as Carlos the Jackal

It is an excellent portrait on the rise and fall of the Venezuelan terrorist, showing him at his most loved, his most respect and his most feared moments of his life. It received some excellent reviews and was even released on the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-ray.

Carlos the Jackal (1970)

It's an astonishing achievement filmed in the style of such other greats as Munich, Che or Mesrine. It could even be seen as a political Scarface (you know, without the drugs and the over-the-top acting).

If you have not seen this 3 part film (the original 5½ hour version that is), be sure to check it out, for its great use of locations, it's pitch perfect direction of Olivier Assayas, the mesmerizing performance of Ramírez and of course for the fascinating story of this terrifying individual in the midst of the 1970s and 80s.

Click here for the trailer