Review of Carlos (2010) by Ro D — 21 Aug 2012

Ilich Ramirez Sanchez(Edgar Ramirez), self-professed revolutionary Marxist, is looking for his very own revolution that does not involve dying in a hellhole in South America and chooses the liberation of Palestine in 1973. Since Israel is busy killing everybody involved with the Munich terrorist attack, Wadie Haddad(Ahmad Kaabour) of the FPLP has openings as Sanchez chooses the nom du guerre Carlos. However, things do not always go smoothly as a courier is arrested at the airport with fake passports and bad poetry. So, the Japanese Red Army goes into action by taking the French ambassador hostage to ensure his release but negotiations break down on the subject of a chemical toilet.

"Carlos" is an epic speculation and portrait of a terrorist as a preening narcissist that spans countries, and languages, both too numberous to recount. Surprisingly for his inconsistent track record, Olivier Assayas holds it all together in a movie that is compelling throughout, despite its sequential structure. As one character calling him a mercenary might not be exactly fair, as Carlos has some idealism, it is true that he might be in it also for the women and guns. While initially talking about victory, it turns out his legacy will involve nothing more than a long string of bodies. He is only one of any amount of militants who are so enamored of their causes that they have their heads so far up their collective asses that they miss the little details(of which the movie is rather fond of) that lead to ruin or how the world is really run. In a way the movie makes a case for the existence of state sponsored terrorism in that certain countries have a symbiotic relationship with the terrorists living within their borders. And since they are usually police states, they have a pretty good idea of what everybody is up to. At the same time, some people will not be thrilled to learn Yasser Arafat was not the root of all evil.