That's the perfect kind of film that I will place as among the favourites of my movie lover life. A realistic, brutal, ruthless crime tale which recalls the story of Jacques Mesrine, the famous gangster, the intended public enemy number one.
I won't tell you every detail of this movie, except one.
Every knows that Mesrine has fought in the Algeria war. That episode traumatized him to the deep of himself. That made him a wild beast. And when he came back, he rapidly fell into the underworld...And so on...
Of course, he hated the Arabs, and above all the "women protectors", the women slavers, hoods who lived thanks to the prostitutes. So, when one of his mistresses, or women friends - he had many -, was beaten very hard by one of those "protectors" - an Arab !!! -, Mesrine reacted
fast. Very fast. We could see his face harden itself, become a mask of stone and iron.
Guess the following...
The sequence after, when the Arab was brought into the car - driven by Mesrine - by a friend of our "hero", Mesrine watched the Arab through the driving mirror, and his mouth gave a slight smile, a cruel smile, if you considered his eyes. A smile that did not reach these eyes. Those eyes that did not smile at all. A really TERRIFYING look. Every one in the audience understood that Mesrine was going to harm this man, at the rear of the car, HARM.
REAL HARM !!!!
He was going to INJURE him.
The following two minutes are really interesting because the two main characters of the movie - Mesrine, Cassel - and his friend - Depardieu - suddenly became disgusting to the audience. In fact we realized that they were not only lovers of justice by slaying a bloody women slaver, but, above all, they were racists. F...RACISTS. They were not better than the "protector". So, in the audience, we suddenly felt some "sympathy" for the poor Arab. Just one second. We were torn between the two sides. Racists gangsters, and a disgusting mother f...who disfigured women.
Where were the good ones and where were the bad ones ???
That's what I loved the most in this film. And, of course, the actor performance of Cassel as Mesrine is outstanding.
I wait for the second episode : L'ENNEMI PUBLIC.
I won't tell you every detail of this movie, except one.
Every knows that Mesrine has fought in the Algeria war. That episode traumatized him to the deep of himself. That made him a wild beast. And when he came back, he rapidly fell into the underworld...And so on...
Of course, he hated the Arabs, and above all the "women protectors", the women slavers, hoods who lived thanks to the prostitutes. So, when one of his mistresses, or women friends - he had many -, was beaten very hard by one of those "protectors" - an Arab !!! -, Mesrine reacted
fast. Very fast. We could see his face harden itself, become a mask of stone and iron.
Guess the following...
The sequence after, when the Arab was brought into the car - driven by Mesrine - by a friend of our "hero", Mesrine watched the Arab through the driving mirror, and his mouth gave a slight smile, a cruel smile, if you considered his eyes. A smile that did not reach these eyes. Those eyes that did not smile at all. A really TERRIFYING look. Every one in the audience understood that Mesrine was going to harm this man, at the rear of the car, HARM.
REAL HARM !!!!
He was going to INJURE him.
The following two minutes are really interesting because the two main characters of the movie - Mesrine, Cassel - and his friend - Depardieu - suddenly became disgusting to the audience. In fact we realized that they were not only lovers of justice by slaying a bloody women slaver, but, above all, they were racists. F...RACISTS. They were not better than the "protector". So, in the audience, we suddenly felt some "sympathy" for the poor Arab. Just one second. We were torn between the two sides. Racists gangsters, and a disgusting mother f...who disfigured women.
Where were the good ones and where were the bad ones ???
That's what I loved the most in this film. And, of course, the actor performance of Cassel as Mesrine is outstanding.
I wait for the second episode : L'ENNEMI PUBLIC.