ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1" A SATISFYING CONCLUSION TO THE MESRINE SAGA

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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1 A SATISFYING CONCLUSION TO MESRINE SAGA

 

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 6, 2010 (San Diego)--Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1, released last Friday, is the second of a two-part series. Killer Instinct emphasized action while this one focuses more on character exploration. Vince Cassel showed us in the first movie how he could rob banks. The movie contains action but not as much as the first. Instead, Cassel is given the opportunity to flex his acting muscles this time around, giving us a glimpse of one of France’s most notorious outlaws when he’s not on his latest crime spree. It is here that we get a portrait of the criminal artist as an older man.

 

It is not a deep examination but the film doesn’t require it to be. Explaining everything about him would have been a disservice because it would have made him less enigmatic. None of the characters know a lot about him and what makes him tick and director Jean-Francois Richet helps put us in the perspective of the people he manipulates and the victims he terrorizes.

 

One of the few things I did get out of him was that Mesrine was egotistical. He reads the newspapers every day to see if his name is on the front page. He listens to the radio and watches the evening news just to hear his name mentioned. He robs banks and escapes from prison because he wants the attention.

 

How I wish the news media in the United States would adopt the standards in France as seen in this film. Whenever he’s talked about on the news, it’s just a no-nonsense, business as usual, brief report. In one news broadcast, the anchor even states that they avoid sensationalism. This becomes increasingly annoying to Mesrine and he becomes infuriated when Chilean General Augusto Pinochet makes the front page over him.

 

I looked at this as a subtle indictment on the current state of the media. Today, a guy like Jacques Mesrine would get headlines and full-depth news coverage, which would be the attention he would have thrived on but wouldn’t deserve. His crime sprees would have been a boon for networks and print media looking to increase their profit margin and ratings.

 

Like the first film, the opening titles inform us that movies are part fiction and that no film can faithfully reproduce the reality and complexity of human life. Despite this, Public Enemy No. 1 is very real. There is no structure. The film wanders but that’s how life is. For Mesrine, life is robbing bank after bank, seducing woman after woman, and escaping from prison after prison. Sometimes he robs a bank, then ventures across the street to rob another bank. The lack of structure is admittedly demanding at first and requires one to forego their expectations formed by Hollywood formulas. In the end, it works because Richet does a wonderful job establishing the world of the movie as that of being as close to real life as possible, even if they confess they can’t.

 

Whereas Killer Instinct was all about the action, Public Enemy No. 1 functions more as a meditation. Sure, there are plenty of bank robberies, sex, and prison escapes to go around but in this installment all that takes a backseat to the acting. Cassel’s portrayal of Mesrine is mesmerizing and charismatic to the point of being dangerous. This is a guy who has no remorse, isn’t afraid to beat up on the women he takes advantage of, and is just plain contemptible. I didn’t necessarily root for him but I found him fascinating and compelling.


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