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You kill me
THE ASSASSIN IS AN AGENT OF CHANGE
As long-gestating wartime thriller Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise finally gets released, Paul Dale traces our long love affair with the assassin
here’s nothing like an assassination to stave off boredom. From Ancient Rome to modern day
America the fundamentalist agenda of the man with the deadly plan has found support in the disparate philosophical writings of Voltaire, Moliere. and David Ben-(iurion. The mess of myth appropriation and storytelling that eventually developed into our most prominent cultural forms is
rich with tales of the ‘hashashin’ the followers of Hasan-e Sabbah, the head of a secret Persian sect of
llth century lstnaelites who would intoxicate themselves with hashish before murdering opponents.
It is through the reiterated and reinterpreted stories of
Cassius and Brutus (Julius Caesar’s aristocratic assassins), the Indian Thugee cult, (‘harlotte (‘orday (the 24 year old murderer of French revolution architect Jean-Paul Marat), Nathuram (iodse (Mahatma Gandhi's killer), James [Earl Ray (Martin Luther King). Lee Harvey Oswald (John F Kennedy) and Mark Chapman (John Lennon) among others that, like Anton Chigurh in Cormac McCarthy‘s No Country For Old Men, Death walks the land, and the movies.
The assassin, good or bad, justified or unjustified (or in the case of Laurence Harvey‘s gunman in John Frankenheimer’s wonderful I962 The Manchurian Candidate, simply hypnotised and delusional) is one of the great staples of cinema. For it is only with this killer elite comes the possibility of retribution and the subsequent ‘closure' (that most annoying of modem pop psychiatric terms) that will follow. These agents of fortune or foul equilibrium come in all different
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shapes and si/es there's no connection between Frank Sinatra’s twitchy assassin in the compulsive I954 B—movie Stu/ilenly and litlwartl liox‘s monikered protagonist in The Day ol'thc Jackal. btit one thing is for sure they are agents of change and the potential freedoms it tnay engender.
Now director Bryan Singer and writer (‘hristophei‘ McQuarrie have reunited for the first time since
I994‘s 'I'he l/sual Suspects to tell the true story of
(‘olonel (‘Iaus Von Stauffenberg. the (ierman aristocrat turned assassin and resistance leader and his involvement with the ll) July l‘)44 plot to kill Hitler. It’s easy to see what drew Singer to the story. it‘s labyrinthine plotting echoing the spooky absurdities of his and l\1c(‘)uarrie‘s previous collaboration. Like all natural born filmmakers Singer knows that assassins are good for business. whether they succeed or fail. they offer the audience a game plan and another recalcitrant with a gun to root for.
'l‘riggermen on a mission are hot and always w ill be. Here‘s my list of films featuring some of my favourites Z. The Proposition. xl/mcaly/ise Now. The Killers (l‘)()4). The Assassination offllesse James by the (‘owanl Robert Ford. The Professional l IUSI ) and Highlander. If you haven’t seen them stick them on your online rental lists. or make your own list. Join the rest of the world and invite a liquidator into your life.
Valkyrie is on general release from Fri 23 Jan. See review, page 42.
THE BEST FILM & DVD RELEASES
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* Revolutionary Road Hardcore marital strile drama reuniting Kate Winslel and Leonardo DiCaprio based on Richard Yates great 1961 novel. See review, page 4 1. General release from Fri 30 Jan.
* Milk Crusading gay rights activist and politician gets the biopic treatment in Gus Van Sant's important and thought- provoking film. See review, page 43. General release, Fri 23 Jan.
* Frost/Nixon Chat show host meets Tricky Dick in this entertaining extension of Peter Morgan's popular stage play. Michael Sheen and Frank Langella star. See review. page 42. General release, Fri 23 Jan. * Valkyrie It's jackboots and rubbish bombs in Bryan Singer's very solid wartime thriller about the plot to kill Hitler starring Tom Cruise and a platoon of veteran British actors. See preview, left and review, page 42. General release, Fri 30 Jan.
* Slumdog Millionaire The road to the Oscars continues for Danny Boyle's shantytown tale. See profile, page 41. Out now, general release.
* The Wrestler Randy the Ram gets back in the ring. Mickey Rourke on fine form. Out now, general release.
* Bloody Sam: The Films of Sam Peckinpah Great retrospective continues. Fi/mhouse, Edinburgh until Sun 15 Feb.
* Che: Part One A real revolutionary's road. Out now, selected release.
* The Times of Harvey Milk Rob Epstein's Oscar- winning 1984 documentary released on DVD to coincide with new film about the heroic gay rights campaigner. See DVD Round-Up, page 54. Out Mon 26 Jan (Drakes Avenue Pictures).