While our man on the ground in Cannes, did not love Oliver Assayas’ five-and-a-half hour opus “Carlos,” about the infamous Venezuelan terrorist in the 1970s known as Carlos the Jackal all the way through (our review gives the first two parts a thumbs up and then turns tepid for the last “film”), most of us here at The Playlist still remain fascinated with the idea of a film with such epic scope.
Set to be released later this fall on the Sundance Channel in three parts and then thankfully by IFC Films for the full experience (save the date now), Jeff Wells has dug up a French-language teaser trailer for the film that features some English in it as well — the star of the picture Édgar Ramírez speaks fluent English, German, French, Spanish and phonetic Arabic in the picture. Whether you understand it or not, this 40-sec0nd, slightly NSFW (brief nudity) teaser trailer is our first look at actual footage from the film.
Interestingly enough, Oliver Assayas, whose last film was the exact opposite type of film, (the bittersweet and quiet family drama, “Summer Hours”; he does like to hop around) wanted nothing to do with this film at first, finding it too daunting a challenge. “I did not want to make ‘Carlos.’ It seemed too crazy and too complicated,” Assayas told the LA Times in Cannes. “It just happened to me.”
Additionally, the real-life international terrorist, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, who is serving a life-sentence in France lashed out at the filmmakers recently even though he has not seen the film. He accused Assayas and co. of mocking his “revolutionary comrades” and added, “I’ve read the screenplay, there are deliberate falsifications of history, and lies.” Perhaps in response to this, the film does open with text indicating that certain relationships and events are fictionalized and dramatized, as portions of Carlos’ life are only really known to the man himself.
That said, we hate to break it to you buddy, but that’s why they call it a movie. Last we heard most films dramatize things when they’re based on real life events. Either way, it might not be a perfect film, but the rest of us are dying to see it when it comes out this fall. Ramírez is best known for his role as a CIA assassin in the movie “The Bourne Ultimatum” and he had a small role in “Che” as well, but we assume this is probably his big international breakout.