Carlos

Arthouse favorite Olivier Assayas followed up his critical darling L’Heure d’Été (2008) with this wildly different chronicle — a biopic of the ultra-left-wing Venezuelan terrorist-cum-mercenary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, popularly known as “Carlos the Jackal.” As co-written by Assayas and scenarist Dan Franck, the account spans the years 1973-1994 — or the period that witnessed Sanchez at his most violent and relentless. Narrative touchstones include the 1974 bomb attack at the Publicis Drugstore on Paris’ Left Bank and the 1975 abduction of 11 OPEC officials from Vienna, as well as a torrent of assassinations that Carlos and his cronies planned but didn’t carry out. As produced by Daniel Leconte, this telling of Sanchez’s life stars Edgar Ramirez as the terrorist, as well as Alexander Scheer, Aljoscha Stadelmann, and Julia Hummer; it was predominantly shot in Germany, France, and Lebanon., In this critically acclaimed feature-length biopic, French film-maker Olivier Assayas charts the rise and fall of the Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal. Édgar Ramírez takes the lead role, portraying Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, who was born in 1949, and whose father was such a committed Marxist that he named his other two sons Vladimir and Lenin. But it was Ilich’s blood-soaked crimes under the guise of Carlos the Jackal that brought him to the attention of the world. The drama begins in 1973, when the murderous ideologue’s fight for Palestinian rights led him to conduct attacks in London and Paris on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The film goes on to track his key role in a plot against the heads of OPEC (the men in charge of global oil production); his clashes with the French police; his changing relationship with his Middle Eastern backers; the frustrations he experienced when based in eastern Europe; and how an unexpected shift in world order turned the terrorist’s life upside down., This sweeping, powerful biopic of international terrorist Carlos the Jackal (Édgar Ramírez) charts the Venezuelan’s rise to infamy and details how his personal politics led to criminal activities that shocked the world, such as high-profile bombings and the kidnapping of OPEC leaders. Directed by Olivier Assayas.