Four beautiful and talented actresses.
Ruan Lingyu in The Goddess (1934, dir. Yonggang Wu)
Delphine Seyrig in Last Year at Marienbad (1961, dir. Alain Resnais)
Barbara Sukowa in Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980, dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Gong Li in Raise the Red Lantern (1991, dir. Zhang Yimou)
For our latest entry in the 44 Days of Paranoia, we take a look at the 1973 British thriller, The Day of the Jackal.
For our previous entry, I reviewed The Fugitive, a film that is often described as a classic but which, in my opinion, has failed to survive the test of time. Therefore, it’s appropriate that this entry is the exact opposite: a film that lives up to its reputation.
Taking place in the early 1960s, The Day of the Jackal tells the story of a nameless assassin (played by Edward Fox) who is hired by a group of terrorists to assassinate French President Charles De Gualle. Accepting the job, the assassin tells his employers to call him “The Jackal.”
We follow the Jackal as he prepares for the assassination. He meets with a gunsmith (Cyril Cusack) and has a special rifle designed. A forger gets him some fake ID papers but makes the mistake of trying to blackmail him. After disposing of the forger, the Jackal makes his way to Paris. Determined to protect his identity, the Jackal seduces both men and women so that he’ll be able to avoid having to check into a hotel. Whenever it appears that someone might be a security risk, the Jackal calmly kills them. It’s all strictly business.
However, the French do know that the Jackal is in Paris and that he’s planning to kill the President. In a plot twist that continues to be significant today, one of the terrorists has been captures and, after being brutally tortured, has revealed the plot. Inspector Lebel (Michael Lonsdale) is tasked with tracking down the Jackal and preventing the assassination.
When I talk about how much I love old movies, I’m talking about films like The Day of the Jackal, an unpretentious movie that achieve success not through flashy visual effects or overwhelmingly loud action scenes but instead by simply being a well-made film. For the most part, director Fred Zinnemann takes a low-key, almost documentary approach to the film’s material. Zinnemann establishes a pace that is deliberate but never boring.
The film also features two excellent lead performances. With his coldly aristocratic features, Edward Fox is perfectly cast as the nameless assassin. You not only believe that he could kill someone but you also believe that he could get away with it. He’s a thoroughly believable killer and it’s hard not to be impressed by just how good he is at being the bad guy. The Jackal’s sleek professionalism and charisma is contrasted with the gray and rather shabby middle-aged men who are trying to stop him. As played by Michael Lonsdale, Inspector Lebel is initially a rather underwhelming figure but, as the film progresses, his own strength is gradually revealed until he becomes a worthy adversary of the Jackal.
Finally, I should mention that the film ends with a little coda that is pure perfection. I’m not going to ruin it by revealing it here but it’s worth watching the entire film just for that final line.
Other Entries In The 44 Days of Paranoia
Mr. Freedom, William Klein’s 1968 political satire, is a strange one.
The film opens with a riot in the inner city. A scowling Southern sheriff (played by John Abbey) goes into his apartment and, when he comes back out, he’s transformed into Mr. Freedom, a patriotic super hero whose is costumed in a red, white, and blue football uniform. Mr. Freedom proceeds to invade a black household where, while firing two guns, he sings his theme song.
“F-R-Double E-Double D-OM! FREEDDOM!”
That’s right, he misspelled freedom.
It turns out that Mr. Freedom works for Freedom, Inc. His boss is Dr. Freedom (played by Donald Pleasance) who communicates with Mr. Freedom via a flickering TV screen. Dr. Freedom is concerned that France is on the verge of turning communist and he sends Mr. Freedom to Paris in order to “win the hearts and minds” of the French.
William Klein, himself, was an American expatriate who lived in France and is best known for being both a fashion photographer and a documentarian. His view of America is epitomized by the sight of Mr. Freedom (wearing a gigantic cowboy hat) wandering around Paris and assaulting random tourists. With the help of a prostitute played by Delphine Seyrig, Mr. Freedom attempts to rally the French to the side of freedom and to defeat the schemes of Red China Man. When the French don’t prove enthusiastic enough, Mr. Freedom responds by making plans to blow the country up.
Unlike a lot of left-wing films, which celebrate the American establishment by pretending to attack it, Mr. Freedom is sincere in its politics. It’s obvious that William Klein set out to make the most anti-American film that he could and he succeeded. Mr. Freedom is an irredeemable character. When the film begins, Mr. Freedom is quickly established as being an idiot and, at the end of the film, he has somehow become an even bigger idiot. Perhaps not surprisingly, a lot of people over at the imdb have compared Mr. Freedom’s quest to conquer France to America’s current policy towards the Middle East.
If you’ve read some of my previous reviews, you would be justified in expecting that this is where I would condemn Mr. Freedom for being heavy-handed and tediously left-wing. After all, I’m the girl who condemned Avatar for being predictable environmental propaganda. And yes, I did find Mr. Freedom to be heavy-handed but I actually enjoyed it.
Even if you didn’t know that William Klein was an award-winning photographer both before and after he started making films, you would be able to guess it after taking one look at Mr. Freedom. The film’s narrative is undeniably uneven but visually, it’s a feast for the eyes. From the costumes worn by Mr. Freedom and his disciples to the design of Mr. Freedom’s secret headquarters, the screen is full of bold, primary colors and Klein shows a taste and appreciation for the bizarre that makes it easier to deal with the film’s moments of peachiness. Perhaps my favorite scene in the film involves Mr. Freedom confronting Red China Man. Red China Man, it turns out, is a gigantic dragon-shaped balloon.
See Mr. Freedom.
There’s nothing else like it.
Through the Shattered Lens 