THE ASSIGNMENT
Based, very loosely I would assume, on the exploits of a mid-East terrorist dubbed THE JACKAL because of his cold blooded heinous crimes against civilians. For the past 20+ years he has bombed and shot indiscriminately at the helpless while he was in the employ of various Mid-East and European countries. Women and children were not spared by The Jackal whose real name was Carlos Sanchez. Despite all-out efforts by our CIA, by Moussad, (the Israeli Secret Service) and other European countries to capture him, the Jackal managed to elude them . . . until one fine day. Imprisoned and given harsh treatment by the Moussad whose chief, Amos (Ben Kingsley) is fiercely delighted at this success, it then turns out that the man they are holding only looks like Sanchez (Aidan Quinn) but is in fact Annibal Ramirez (also played by Quinn) an officer in the U.S. Navy. He is awarded little more than a "Sorry about that" and released.
Shortly thereafter he is approached by Jack Shaw (Donald Sutherland) a high-ranking CIA operative. Ramirez is told in detail about the Jackal, shown horrifying photos of maimed children; brought into a hospital for first-hand viewing of victims. He is further told that the Jackal can be caught only with his cooperation. Because he looks exactly like the terrorist, he is being asked to pretend he is the Jackal while the Israeli and U.S. governments lay a trap. Ramirez offers all kinds of objections but in the end is talked into accepting the role. Thus begins a new life, in its own way a terrorist life. He is even asked to be unfaithful to the wife he loves by persuading the Jackal's girlfriend that he is the Jackal. Before the Russians (the enemy) can be gulled into the trap, they must be sure it is indeed the Jackal.
By concentrating on Annibal Ramirez rather than on the terrorist, the film takes a giant step in the right direction. Adding to the believability of the story are the fine performances by the three leads. Kingsley, tense and determined; Sutherland with a kind of smirk; and Quinn doing double duty (but very little as the terrorist) mostly as the clean-cut Naval officer who almost loses himself in the terrorist role in order to be believable to the enemy.
Others in the cast include Liliana Komorowska, Celine Bonnier, Claudia Ferri, Vlasta Vrana, Von Flores and Al Waxman.
A very exciting film. Very well written by Dan Gordon and Sabi H Shabtai.
Directed by Christian Duguay.
3 Bytes
4 Bytes = Superb 3 Bytes = Too good to miss 2 Bytes = Average 1 Byte = Save your money
Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman
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