Carlos

"Carlos"
Starring: Edgar Ramirez, Alexander Beyer, Anna Thalbach, Susanne Wuest
Directed by: Olivier Assayas
330 minutes
2010/France

Olivier Assayas' "Carlos," is an in depth and sprawling look into the life of one of the world's most notorious terrorists. It tells the story of Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, who for two decades weaved his way through the complexities of international politics of the period. The film tries to put together who Carlos was by showcasing his various multi-layered identities. The man ultimately engaged his body and soul into a never ending struggle for his beliefs, and this film charts his rise and fall.

While "Carlos" has been broken down into different versions, the 330 minute version from Cannes is the one that I saw. Broken down into three parts for French TV, "Carlos" was screened on the Sundance channel at the beginning of October over three nights. The epic film is not only swiftly directed by Assayas, but includes a vast array of journalistic and factual insight that tries to create the most realistic version of Carlos possible.

With it's globe-trotting nature, and quick pacing, "Carlos" is some blend of "Munich," and "Zodiac." Names, dates, and times are all throw together creating a frenzy of 'who's who' in the global terror racket. While much of the breakneck pacing of "Carlos" is presented in the first few hours, the rest of "Carlos" is able to slow itself down and tell us more about the man. His political ties are always contradicting, making his persona even more of an enigma. Edgar Ramirez plays Carlos with the right dose of sex appeal, charm, and rage. Ramirez speaks six languages in the film, and obviously went through drastic weight changes to play the controversial figure. One can't help but draw comparisons between the complexity of  Ramriez' work here, and the work of Benicio Del Toro in "Che."

The only downfall of "Carlos" is its inability to stimulate emotion from its audience. While most of it is based on thrills, some may shrug it off in its dire attempt to resonate. It resonated for me, mostly because of Ramirez' performance and the fearless filmmaking on Assayas' behalf. The film works in one sitting, or broken down into multiple viewings. The scope of the narrative is so dense, but endlessly intrigues with its array of violence, locales, and characters.

Grade: 4/5