![Carlos [2010] [Criterion] (BLU)](/sized-images/maxs/187/265/uploads/movies/primary/carlosccblu.jpg)
- Rating: Not Rated
- Format: Blu-ray
- Release Date: 09/27/2011
- Label: The Criterion Collection
- Category: Criterion, Drama, Foreign, Mystery / Thriller
Carlos [2010] [Criterion] (BLU)
Olivier Assayas
Amoeba Review
Sean Sweeney 12/31/2015
The last decades haven’t been that great for real-life political radicalism, but in the movies it’s been extraordinary: Baader Meinhof Complex, Munich, Che, the cartoonish Eight Miles High, and now, Olivier Assayas’s extraordinary bio Carlos (epic is an understatement). Not since the glory days of The Battle of Algiers, State Of Siege, and Z have political terror cells been so damn entertaining. Even more thanV for Vendetta, Carlos is one of the giddiest pro-terrorism flicks ever made. Originally made for French television, the five-hour-plus Carlos has been released in theaters at different lengths; but The Criterion Collection DVD includes the three episodes, at their original length, spread over three discs (with a fourth disc containing an excellent French documentary that helps to fill in the holes). Carlos is so dense with history and international period detail that seeing those above-mentioned films (which have a number of crossover characters and references in Carlos) definitely helps make the film easier to follow. But that’s not to say you have to be a history major to appreciate Carlos; it’s so riveting and Carlos, the character, is so fascinating that just committing to it proves amazingly rewarding.
In Episode One we meet Ilich Ram...
Synopsis
Carlos, directed by Olivier Assayas, is an epic, intensely detailed account of the life of the infamous international terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez—also known as Carlos the Jackal. One of the twentieth century’s most wanted fugitives, Carlos was committed to violent left-wing activism throughout the seventies and eighties, orchestrating bombings, kidnappings, and hijackings in Europe and the Middle East. Assayas portrays him not as a criminal mastermind but as a symbol of seismic political shifts around the world, while the magnetic Édgar Ramírez brilliantly embodies him as a swaggering global gangster. Criterion presents the complete, uncut, director-approved, five-and-a-half-hour version of Carlos.
Special Features:
- Digital transfer, supervised and approved by directors of photography Denis Lenoir and Yorick Le Saux, with DTS-HD Master Audio.
- New video interviews with director Olivier Assayas, Lenoir, Le Saux, and actor Édgar Ramírez.
- Twenty-minute making-of documentary on the film's OPEC raid scene.
- Original theatrical trailer
- Booklet featuring essays by critics Colin MacCabe and Greil Marcus, plus biographies on selected historical figures portrayed in the film, written by the film's historical adviser, Stephen Smith.
Product Details
- Format: Color, Widescreen
- Language: Arabic, English, French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish
- Subtitles: English
- Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1
- Number of Discs: 2
- Rating: Not Rated
- Label: The Criterion Collection
- Release Date: 09/27/2011
- Run Time: 339 minutes
- Catalogue #: 582
