Carlos
Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Olivier Assayas
Written by Olivier Assayas and Dan Franck
Starring Edgar Ramirez, Alexander Scheer
The Criterion Collection
Release Date: September 27, 2011

THE FILM:

Some stories have to be told in a longer time period than most films are allotted.  And despite having a theatrical version out there (admittedly absent from this otherwise extensive release), the newest film from director Olivier Assayas entitled Carlos is exactly that story.

Clocking in at just around five-and-a-half hours in length, Carlos tells the story of the infamous terrorist Illich Ramirez Sanchez, aka Carlos The Jackal.  A leftist militant to the very definition of that two-word descriptor, the man was behind a cavalcade of kidnappings, hijackings, and even bombings for two decades.  Now released thanks to the Criterion Collection in its original, complete director’s cut, Carlos is a film that is as in your face and engaging as the central, charisma-oozing figure on which it focuses.