There is always a price to pay for one's own sins:
Grandmaster of caper thrillers
Chamikara Weerasinghe
Director: Jules Dassin
Writer: Jules Dassin, Ren‚ Wheeler, Auguste Le Breton
Stars: Jean Servais, Carl M”hner, Robert Manuel, Jules Dassin,
Marie Sabouret, Janine Darcey
Genre: Thriller
Length: 118 minutes
Original: 1955
Screening: 16 August 2002
Country: France
If you like a noir movie that move like a game of chess, slow and
witty at the beginning, tensed and exciting at the centre, fast and
serious at the end , French Caper classic Rififi is the movie to watch.
The film was originally released in 1955 as Du rififi chez les homes.
French police banned the movie on account of its central
robbery sequence |
Often referred to as the grand master of all heist movies, the French
caper thriller Rififi has influenced the likes of Mission Impossible,
Reservoir Dogs and Ocean's Eleven.
French police banned the movie on account of its central robbery
sequence in 1955 stating that it could serve as a primer for would- be
jewel thieves to carry out complicated robberies.
The movie was carefully and intelligently crafted by American expert
director Jules Dassin. Blacklisted by post-war anti-Communist witch hunt
in Hollywood at the time, Dassin fled to Paris to embark on this
masterpiece which later became an international hit despite it being
shot on a modest budget of US $ 200,000.
Rififi earned him the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival
in 1955. The movie stands out for its seminal robbery sequence played
out in the middle that runs for about 30 minutes without dialogue or
sound track. You will only hear the sounds of breathing, tapping, some
plaster falling into an umbrella that was set to catch it and the patter
of footsteps and random coughing by the men in action.
This was done to perfection by directorial choice to intensify
suspense in the movie as Tony and his prot‚g‚, young father Jo the Swede
(Carl Moehner) and Cesar (played by Dassin himself as Perlo Vita) break
through a concrete ceiling, enter a highly surveiled jewellery store and
immobilize the alarm with foam from a fire extinguisher. Although this
is the pinnacle of the movie, it takes a new turn with Cesar giving a
several millions worth diamond ring to a nightclub chanteuse despite
their agreement to lay low for a while.
This sets human element into the movie with a chain of renewed
violence. Cesar's stupidity leads to a situation of culprits being found
out by the night club boss Pierre (Marcel Lupovici) who sends his men
after the jewels. He kidnaps Jo's son and demands that stolen jewellery
be handed over to him in return for the boy.
But Tony knows better about the rules of the underworld and the
chances of the boy being returned by Pierre. The boy is a witness. The
last section of the movie is centred on the kidnapping of Jo's son. How
ex-con Jo panics as a father while Tony tries to save the boy from
criminals using his talents, unfolds on the screen. Meanwhile, the
writing is on the wall for Cesar for betraying the crime. Tony says to
Cesar (Dassin) in a scene, "I like you, Macaroni.
But you know the rules." Cesar nods in affirmation. But there is
always a price to pay for one's own sins in crime. Rules apply. The plot
of the movie revolves around a burglary at a jewellery shop but the
director has craftily used his mastery in film making to bring each
character into full play rather than killing each character on the basis
of their figurative criminal appearance through scenes of die hard
killing.
Rififi mirrors what makes a great movie with its cascading twists.
Rififi is also noted for its dark humour.
It was nominated by the National Board of Review for Best Foreign
Film. It was re-released theatrically in 2000 and is still highly
acclaimed by modern film critics as one of the greatest works in French
film industry. |