Sorry, this movie sucks

Absolutely the worst movie.

A Major Disappointment

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This miniseries, three hours from an original five hours, is the story of Carlos the Jackal, a Venezuelan terrorist who operated in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. His most famous attack was on an OPEC meeting in 1975. Sixty hostages were taken and 3 people killed.Carlos, real name Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was allied with the Palestinian/anti-Zionism cause, seeking justice and equality. Written and directed by Olivier Assayas, the twenty-year sojourn of Carlos has some of the dialogue from Stasi recordings; the director fits in real events, mixing in actual footage and some fictional ones of meeting and negotiations.Carlos was committed to the cause, but he was also egomaniacal and ambitious, besides being somewhat of a mercenary. He was also a womanizer and believed that his destiny was to be killed.Once the wall came down, Carlos became an artifact, drifting from country to country seeking asylum, and finally being moved to French soil while he was ill, so that he could be put on trial.Edgar Ramirez does a fantastic job as Carlos. Like many of the South American or Spanish actors I've seen, he is completely natural and believable. It helped also that he can speak several languages as the character needed to slip in and out of them. He is an enigmatic Carlos, a powerful man who could take over a group with very little effort.There are many bombings, car chases, and meetings to be had and for some it may be tedious to follow. I found it very well made and interesting.

I would have given this production a 10, especially for the superb performance by Edgar Ramirez, except for the lack of subtitling when English was being spoken, and what subtitles did exist were too small to read, even on a large screen TV! Whenever the characters were speaking in their own language, whether it be French, German, Russian, Hungarian or other, it was subtitled, but not when they were speaking in English. As there was not a native English speaking actor in the entire production, the heavy accents were just too hard to understand. This seems to be standard with the English version of French productions in that they only subtitle foreign languages.The performance by Edgar Ramirez was just amazing, especially his changing appearance, not just facial and hair style, but his body appeared thicker and heavier in the later episodes as he aged from a young man to a mature 40 something. I did find it interesting that the terrorists all drank Johnny Walker red label and smoked Marlboros - not a Pasha, Galoise nor a Gitane between them, and boy did they smoke! Why any of them are still alive and not dead of lung cancer or heart attack is a mystery.'Carlos' and the other terrorists were not shown in a sympathetic or glamorous light, but neither were they all black. They came across as deluded fanatics with little sympathy for the victims who they sacrificed for the 'cause', whatever cause that happened to be at the time. 'Carlos' and his followers did not appear to have too many qualms about selling themselves to the highest bidder as terrorists for hire when it suited them; although, some of them were not too happy about being diverted from their Marxist views of equality for all. Of course, there were groupies and hangers on bedazzled by the perceived glamour and excitement more than ideological fervor. Although the Marxist Leninist fanatics and their groupies have had their day, things have not really changed as the Jihad true believers and their foolish female followers, the 'Jihadi brides'and suicide bombers have taken their place. It was interesting to see how the countries who had supported 'Carlos' turned against him when the cold war ended and they had no further use for him. He believe he was untouchable and irreplaceable as they laid out the red carpet for him, but he was only tolerated as long as they had a need for his dirty work. Suddenly he was a pariah and no longer welcome - don't call us, we'll call you! I particularly enjoyed the lack of American involvement in this series. One shudders to think of marines yelling and bawling 'Go, go go' and how they would claim credit for the apprehension and capture of Ramirez, as they claimed credit for capturing the enigma cypher machine from the Germans in WW2 (U-571). Arabs and Muslims would have been the bad guys and the Americans would have saved the day with the help of Israeli back up. The Europeans can do very well on their own, as shown by TV series such as Spiral, Wallender, and Un Village Francais without Uncle Sam hogging center stage.

In 1973, Venezuelan Marxist Ilich Ramirez 'Carlos' Sanchez is in Europe as a high operative for the PFLP. He assassinates targets. When his superior André is arrested, PFLP head Wadie Haddad assigns him to take OPEC oil ministers at their Vienna conference hostage. In December 21, 1975, his group succeeds in taking hostages but their attempt to find asylum ends in failure. He goes to work for himself causing havoc around the world.Olivier Assayas tries to fit a very big life into a limited space. Édgar Ramírez is great. This is a juicy part. I saw the shorter version and it has a compressed feel. Three hours is not enough to get the whole story. This needs to be a longer TV show or a shorter movie of the OPEC hostage taking. This has the great feel of the era. The hostage taking and the subsequent turmoil is fascinating and would make for a tight historical thriller.

Much will be said about this tour de force. A compilation of unbelievable acts of heroic madness. A caption at the beginning of he film warn us that "it should be treated as a work of fiction" Well, thank you very much. What makes this extraordinary achievement, truly extraordinary is Edgar Ramirez. A monumental performance that allows us to make sense of the man. Revolution is in his DNA but so fragile. His ego makes him corruptible and his nature swings between the extremes of an idealist and a sociopath. I was riveted and appalled. I had DVR all three episodes to watch at my leisure but once I started I couldn't stop watching. So I saw the whole thing in one sitting and it went fast very fast. That in itself is extraordinary. So, not to be missed.