What better way to kick off the blog then a review of the film from which it takes its namesake.The head of my high school film club said early in the year that "cinema is a lie." According to that rule Jean-Pierre Melville establishes this film as cinematic in the same way he did in his earlier film, Le Samouraï. He utilizes a false quote attributed to the Buddha, Siddharta Gautama.
The quote is: "When men, even unknowingly, are to meet one day, whatever may befall each, whatever the diverging paths, on the said day, they will inevitably come together in the red circle." Like many French directors of the '60s, Melville is not concerned with the real world or its logic in a film. What is important to him is the romantic masculinity of the characters, and the emotional response of the audience.
SPOILERS. From now on, no plot detail will be spared. Just watch the film. It is an all-time favorite.
Loyalty is an the ever important theme of the film. It is perhaps most evident in Yves Montand's Jansen. He is set up in his earliest scenes as a drugged-out, former policeman, who was friendly to criminals. He had no real loyal ties. He worked for both the law and for crime. Loyalty is certainly a huge part of Melville's paradigm of manhood. He was unable to give it to the law, so Melville gives him a second chance for redemption by giving his ties to crime.
Even some characters who do things that work against the protagonists show a certain sense of loyalty. the character of criminal-friendly club-owner Santi is wwanted by the police to inform them. They attempt to imprison his son in order to blackmail him, and he finally gives in. It may appear that he is betraying his comrades, but he was really being faced with an important dilemma. He had to choose between his family, and his friends. As he should, he demonstrates a greater dedication to his family.
Many characters in Melville's film can be considered professionals. Alain Delon's Corey's first mission after his release from prison is to return to crime. Melville admires a dedication, whatever it may be. It just so happens that Corey's dedication is to crime. Melville's heist scene, like Jules Dassin's notorious heist scene from Rififi, lasts nearly half an hour without a single spoken word. The characters do not need to speak, they know what they are doing, and do not need further instruction.
Montand's Jansen, on the other hand, does not have that same sense of duty to his work. Aside from his duplicitous way of working, he is first shown hallucinating on unnamed drugs. They haved crippled his work ethic, which he must earn back. During the heist scene, he has a rifle mounted on a tripod. He proceeds to remove the rifle, and then fire. He is hired to shoot a target perfectly, and he hits it. Proving his ability as a professional.
The police in the film are portrayed as the antithesis of Melville's masculine ideal of loyalty, honesty, and professionalism. They succeed at the latter, while abondoning the two others. In the end, they catch the theives, but they imploy blackmail (of Santi), and espionage when Bourvil pretends to be a jeweler to Corey. These tactics prove a theory given by the chief of police in the film: everyone is guilty.
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