Review of Le Cercle Rouge (1970) by Cris L — 06 Jun 2008

''Siddartha Gautama,the Buddha,drew a circle with a piece of red chalk and said:When men,even unknowingly,are to meet one day whatever may befall each,whatever the diverging paths,on the said day,they will inevitably come together in the red circle'' The movie opens with this epigraph which explains its title though,as far as I know,Melville made it up,the Buddha never said that.

Someone, fed on a Hollywood diet(fast-paced movies,exhilarating action scenes, adrenaline-rushing soundtracks and so on) might find this movie to be slow, corny, even boring.I can understand why they want to remake it but it's never gonna be the same !They will probably come out with yet another 'bang bang shoot 'em up' movie,enjoyable,no doubt, but not outstanding like the original .

.. The story of a jewelry heist is just a cover for a more profound contemplation of human nature-with a very pessimistic point of view:the good and the bad are indiscriminately conditioned/driven/led by fate.

A deeply pessimistic story imbued with fatalism and despair,expertly filmed,highly elaborated visuals-every movement and facial expression is carefully choreographed-great acting,excellent camera work,masterful editing,tense atmosphere emphasized by unexpected burst of violence,there is almost no soundtrack and the silence is a character in the movie,a character more defined than the real ones which seem to have no past,no future,just the present moments.

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