I ended the review of "Death Instinct" with the following statement: "Mesrine cared enough to leave a legacy that he wrote it himself. That a film was adapted from it says it all, and that one movie wasn't enough to cover everything says even more".
Now, I realized that even two movies couldn't actually do 'justice' to the self-proclaimed anarchist who constantly defied it. And I couldn't possibly write a review before reading the autobiography he wrote during his period at La Santé jail for once that he wasn't busy masterminding an escape.
With manly gusto, Cassel rendered most identifiable traits of Mesrine but the book made them understandable from a skeptical perspective. Some say "no honor among thieves". But even the cops acknowledged that Mesrine was a man of his word. The film opens with a negotiation with his rival Broussard. Mesrine is cornered and has a girl in the house and no chance to escape, but even in defeat, he stays in command.
He gives his word not to open fire in exchange of twenty minutes; Broussard knows Mesrine will burn some incriminating papers, but anything to avoid the bloodshed. He earns Mesrine's respect, and even more when he accepts to come unarmed as a way to earn the arrest. Mesrine welcomes him with champagne and cigars. After all, if you're going to be arrested, why not do it with some style? It says something crucial about the man; he valued relationships more than money or freedom. Didn't he get back to the Canadian penitentiary he had just escaped from i Canada, because he promised to get his friends out?
Mesrine makes no secret that he's a criminal, that he always wanted the easy way (that wasn't that easy), that he regarded working men as castrated slaves who resigned to a life of mediocrity unchained to the alarm-clock. You can't read the first pages without getting some "Goodfellas" vibes, but the kinship between Mesrine and Henry Hill's stops when you realize it isn't just a choice of lifestyle but a case of determinism guided by a sense of social revolt à la Camus' "Stranger". The greatest enemy of Mesrine isn't the police but the petty representatives of a system that "good" people respect out of cowardice rather than free will.
And Mesrine hasn't enough tough words to denounce the prisons: instead of giving inmates chances for rehabilitation, they only break their spirit or turn them to into tougher and ruthless criminals. That's why he always escaped, and the book he wrote preceded the most sensational of all, it's not just about determination but competence, too. The escape from the trial by hiding gun in the toilet was a masterstroke but the book makes it even more impressive because Mesrine planted the gun before his arrest. He anticipated the possibility and planned the escape 'just in case'. Anticipation is the key to success and Mesrine wasn't only brawn, his brain was his biggest asset.
Now, don't get the wrong idea, competence and honor don't make him "honorable", still, his ego wouldn't have tolerated any defaming accusation, he was a gangster, a killer, who could kill cops but no civilians, he loved children, animals, braved all the risks to go visit his dying father, he was a master of disguise who couldn't disguise his feelings when it came to love, as he could write passionate and romantic declarations of love to his women. He 'finished' two Canadian rangers by executing them in the head but he felt more remorseful toward that bird he accidentally shot when he was twelve. As regret, he only wished they didn't draw their guns but they knew the rules, they played, were slower, and lost. Anyway, the way he saw it, he never gratuitously killed.
So he knew his value and operated in an endless spiral of bank robberies and parties, only punctuated by short periods of jail. That was his routine, he couldn't stop. At one point, his partner in crime Charlie leaves him because he knows he reached the no-return point. Mesrine moves forward, it's the business he's chosen, he loved the taste of adrenaline and the testosterone-driven life, he says that the day the nation gave him a weapon to fight the Algerians; he couldn't get rid of it. It became a drug. The same year, "The Hurt Locker" was released and it started with the quotation that 'war was a drug'. Mesrine was addicted too, he cherished the risk, he didn't care about his own life as long as he had a chance (he never foolishly risked his neck) but he never feared death, which made him even more dangerous, death was still a better option than jail, and he proved it four times.
He knew Karma would finally have the last word. And the ending was the one part he could have never written, but he foreshadowed it. He knew police would never give him a chance in an ambush. They didn't, he was killed without summation, with explosive bullets (prohibited) and the most shocking moment was when a cop coming from another car gave him the same treatment than for the Canadian rangers. Mesrine never believed in the 'blaze of glory' death but I guess if he wrote a book from beyond-the-grave, he wouldn't have been much spiteful toward his executioners, he knew the rules, he played and lost, like the Canadians, fair trade.
I don't feel much admiration toward him, but who doesn't want to be a tiger rather than a sheep. I guess that's the power of cinema, to make us live a character's life by proxy, admiring a bad guy the time of a film and then come to your sense. Still, if you read the book, it'll take more time. It doesn't say that there is honor among thieves; just that there are brave people and cowards in every kind of people. And gangsters are people, too.
Now, I realized that even two movies couldn't actually do 'justice' to the self-proclaimed anarchist who constantly defied it. And I couldn't possibly write a review before reading the autobiography he wrote during his period at La Santé jail for once that he wasn't busy masterminding an escape.
With manly gusto, Cassel rendered most identifiable traits of Mesrine but the book made them understandable from a skeptical perspective. Some say "no honor among thieves". But even the cops acknowledged that Mesrine was a man of his word. The film opens with a negotiation with his rival Broussard. Mesrine is cornered and has a girl in the house and no chance to escape, but even in defeat, he stays in command.
He gives his word not to open fire in exchange of twenty minutes; Broussard knows Mesrine will burn some incriminating papers, but anything to avoid the bloodshed. He earns Mesrine's respect, and even more when he accepts to come unarmed as a way to earn the arrest. Mesrine welcomes him with champagne and cigars. After all, if you're going to be arrested, why not do it with some style? It says something crucial about the man; he valued relationships more than money or freedom. Didn't he get back to the Canadian penitentiary he had just escaped from i Canada, because he promised to get his friends out?
Mesrine makes no secret that he's a criminal, that he always wanted the easy way (that wasn't that easy), that he regarded working men as castrated slaves who resigned to a life of mediocrity unchained to the alarm-clock. You can't read the first pages without getting some "Goodfellas" vibes, but the kinship between Mesrine and Henry Hill's stops when you realize it isn't just a choice of lifestyle but a case of determinism guided by a sense of social revolt à la Camus' "Stranger". The greatest enemy of Mesrine isn't the police but the petty representatives of a system that "good" people respect out of cowardice rather than free will.
And Mesrine hasn't enough tough words to denounce the prisons: instead of giving inmates chances for rehabilitation, they only break their spirit or turn them to into tougher and ruthless criminals. That's why he always escaped, and the book he wrote preceded the most sensational of all, it's not just about determination but competence, too. The escape from the trial by hiding gun in the toilet was a masterstroke but the book makes it even more impressive because Mesrine planted the gun before his arrest. He anticipated the possibility and planned the escape 'just in case'. Anticipation is the key to success and Mesrine wasn't only brawn, his brain was his biggest asset.
Now, don't get the wrong idea, competence and honor don't make him "honorable", still, his ego wouldn't have tolerated any defaming accusation, he was a gangster, a killer, who could kill cops but no civilians, he loved children, animals, braved all the risks to go visit his dying father, he was a master of disguise who couldn't disguise his feelings when it came to love, as he could write passionate and romantic declarations of love to his women. He 'finished' two Canadian rangers by executing them in the head but he felt more remorseful toward that bird he accidentally shot when he was twelve. As regret, he only wished they didn't draw their guns but they knew the rules, they played, were slower, and lost. Anyway, the way he saw it, he never gratuitously killed.
So he knew his value and operated in an endless spiral of bank robberies and parties, only punctuated by short periods of jail. That was his routine, he couldn't stop. At one point, his partner in crime Charlie leaves him because he knows he reached the no-return point. Mesrine moves forward, it's the business he's chosen, he loved the taste of adrenaline and the testosterone-driven life, he says that the day the nation gave him a weapon to fight the Algerians; he couldn't get rid of it. It became a drug. The same year, "The Hurt Locker" was released and it started with the quotation that 'war was a drug'. Mesrine was addicted too, he cherished the risk, he didn't care about his own life as long as he had a chance (he never foolishly risked his neck) but he never feared death, which made him even more dangerous, death was still a better option than jail, and he proved it four times.
He knew Karma would finally have the last word. And the ending was the one part he could have never written, but he foreshadowed it. He knew police would never give him a chance in an ambush. They didn't, he was killed without summation, with explosive bullets (prohibited) and the most shocking moment was when a cop coming from another car gave him the same treatment than for the Canadian rangers. Mesrine never believed in the 'blaze of glory' death but I guess if he wrote a book from beyond-the-grave, he wouldn't have been much spiteful toward his executioners, he knew the rules, he played and lost, like the Canadians, fair trade.
I don't feel much admiration toward him, but who doesn't want to be a tiger rather than a sheep. I guess that's the power of cinema, to make us live a character's life by proxy, admiring a bad guy the time of a film and then come to your sense. Still, if you read the book, it'll take more time. It doesn't say that there is honor among thieves; just that there are brave people and cowards in every kind of people. And gangsters are people, too.