Carlos … the Jackal. With a name like that, what hombre wouldn’t be a chick magnet? If he’s also a swaggering global gangsta in the golden age of anti-imperialist terrorism, then they’ll be lining up to get into his black leather pants. (They being his brooding, raven-haired groupies--frothing for a chance to bust a cap in some capitalists.) Sauntering off a plane in champagne-colored suit and sunglasses, cigarette in hand, Carlos (embodied by the electric Edgar Ramirez) oozes macho charisma like a rock star, or a Latin 007. That the pouty-lipped, sideburned Ramirez looks like a young Venezuelan Val Kilmer, only makes him even more Jim Morrison-esque. Especially when he’s a lover/fighter that tells his female recruits/conquests “weapons are meant to be touched” and btw, are also an extension of his body (we can guess which part). Clearly sex sells … revolutions, and biopics about revolutionaries – at least through the lens of Oliver Assayas, the director of the award-winning French television mini-series Carlos.

The Criterion Collection delivers the complete, uncut, director-approved, five-and-a-half hour version of Assayas’s epic account of the rise and fall of one of the twentieth century’s most wanted men, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez (aka Carlos the Jackal). “Another Che?”--you might ask recalling the nearly five-hour odyssey that nearly drove Soderbergh out of filmmaking. Fortunately, no. Partly because it’s portioned into three bite-size episodes, and partly, of course, ode to the sex, and rock and roll soundtrack. At an adrenaline-packed pace it tracks Carlos’s career from the 70s through the 80s, across Europe and the Middle East as he orchestrates bombings, kidnappings and hijackings all in the name of freedom for Palestine, or whatever cause satisfies his mercenary Marxist agenda. Or to put it simply: he’ll aim his AK-47 whichever way the political wind is blowing (and the cash is flowing, pardon the rhyme). Assayas mixes archival news clips with his taut rendering of Carlos exploits, from OPEC sieges to bungled rocket-launcher airport attacks giving the impression he relied more on bravado and brutality than military genius or political insight to make his mark on the political map. Dubbed murderer and hero, revolutionary and celebrity craving bourgeois poser, Carlos emerges as a symbol of the terrorist zeitgeist.

Assayas presents the myth and the man (heavy on the myth): on scene, behind the scenes and between the sheets. Tracking his rocket to fame and plummet to political paria in a post-cold war environment. While Ramirez plays Carlos with a calculated cool that belies a vulnerability and passion all the more potent when it's shattered in moments of rage or paranoia.

Who is the real Carlos? It’s never quite clear especially when he bucks the suicide-happy terrorist mold and accepts a 20 million dollar ransom for an OPEC minister’s life explaining, “I’m a solider ... not a martyr”. Or buys a brand new Mercedes to celebrate his 30 birthday. Though the film warns us it plans to take a few liberties in an opening disclaimer. True-to-life biopic, grim gangster fairytale, or a little of both, Carlos is a thrilling, captivating historic epic worth watching.

EXTRAS:

Can’t get enough Carlos? This two-disc set is packed with special features that venture deeper into the man beneath the beret, including several hour-long stand-alone documentaries. Highlights include:

An essay booklet: featuring essays by critics Colin Macabe and Greil Marcus as well as timeline of Carlos’s life and biographies of film figures written by Carlos’s historical advisor Stephen Smith.

New video interviews: Assayas, Ramirez and Carlos cinematographer Lenoir

Scene commentary with Lenoir

Carlos: Terrorist Without Borders – an hour-long French documentary on Carlos's career that kicks off with his privileged youth and university days spent obsessed with guitars and, of course, girls.

An archival interview with Carlos associate Hans-Joachim Klein

Maison de France – a documentary on a West Berlin Carlos bombing not in the film, with interviews with his former wife Magdalena Kopp and others.

20-minute making of documentary – about the film’s OPEC raid scene.