MovieChat Forums > The Assignment (1997) Discussion > The truth about the story

The truth about the story

posted 19 years ago by tigerbiru
15 replies | jump to latest

The first time I've seen this movie was in early 98... And it stills amaze me of how they've done this film.. One thing still bugging me though as I recently bought the DVD is that at the end of the movie,right before the ending credits, there's some kind of epilogue that is saying about how then Carlos had been captured etc.Since I never quite follow the story of the real Carlos the Jackal; Is He really have been captured in the real world? Or am I missing some kind of "Based on True Event" kind of sign at the beginning of the film??Or is He just some kind of myth?Thank You

[–] martijnrutgers 19 years ago

No he's absolutely not a myth. The attack at the OPEC meeting in Vienna, which is a scene in the movie did in fact happen. Carlos was captured in Sudan in 1994 by French agents. They flew him to France where he was sentenced to life imprisonment. For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilich_Ramirez_Sanchez

[–] tigerbiru 19 years ago

Hey, thank you very much for the info....

[–] Piewackett1 14 years ago

At last he was finally charged and brought to trial, though all I know is what I've garnered from your writing.
It seems we've gotten so used to the idea of holding persons without charging them for long periods of time if not indefinitely, that not one single comment addressed this issue. Worrisome.
The right of habeous corpus is fundamental to our entire framework of justice. The last decade especially seems to have wiped this from our collective conscious.
It's always been bad, but never this bad.

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”

[–] chucktdogg 14 years ago

I Just saw this movie, so I apologies for adding to a 5 year old post. But after reading your response, I felt compelled to respond.

habeous corpus is a right given to AMERICAN citizens in the constitution. Carlos was arrested by the French, so that right is not his. Second, I assume you are implying that the detainee's in Cuba fit that bill as well. Again, Not American citizens and not protected by the constitution. Also, since they are Terrorists and do not represent a foreign enemy, such as North Korea or Iran, or whatever, and where not in uniform with clear rank, ect, the Geneva convention also doesn't not apply.

I understand the liberal sensibility that al human life is important. I agree. However, purely on a legal stand point, your argument is incorrect.

[–] Silverhawkins 11 years ago

Totally agreed re: Habeas Corpus. It's a reaction to terrorism, but it's extremely worrying and factually entirely unsubstantiated. We'd be better off expending our time and effort fighting obesity and diabetes and smoking damage. The disproportionate amount of spending on repressing peoples liberties under the banner of "anti-terrorism" is despicable.

"oh mummy, oh daddy - lets all play Kabadi!"

[–] Maryjnberry 9 years ago

Really, it seems like that at times, but if resources were not "spent" on terrorism, you would be bombed in your hometown, there would be no end to the kind of suffering people would have to endure if no attention is paid to the terrorism. Take South America, for instance, no one stops the terrorists there, terrorists kidnap children of the wealthy to get a big pay day...everyday this happens, the consultants, contractors and technical workers and (their families), who are paid by large North American companies to work in S.A. are constantly at risk of kidnapping from terrorists.
The only people who are held now by those forces such as CIA, FBI, Interpol and police and who are suspected terrorists do not get held for long and even those suspects are no longer tortured for their knowledge thanks to international law which prevents anyone from being tortured while in custody.

[–] wkmm3 19 years ago

Carlos was in fact responsible for all attacks shown in the film (from the french cafe in 74 to vienna 75.
He was also responsible for the kidnapping of the famous air-france jetliner with Israeli civilians to Entebe, Uganda, Which ended with Israeli forces taking out all terrorists and retrieval of almost all hostages.
He has been put on trial in france for the also depicted assasination of a palestinian informer (not angeiska like in the movie) and two DST officers.

[–] dlubeck 19 years ago

He was not involved with the Entebbe hijacking.

[–] eeoulo 19 years ago

correct, that is the problem with wikipedia in that a lot of falsehoods start to get viewed as fact. If someone is curious to read a good writeup on the Entebbe rescue (the highjacking wasn't related to Entebbe) they should go here: http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_entebbe.php

[–] alfiebeal 19 years ago

actually, the wikipedia article states that Carlos had nothing to do with the hijacking. That is not to say that errors do not get spread through wikipedia, but, on the whole, the accuracy is pretty good. More factual errors are spread through sloppy reading than writing, I suspect.

back to the movie... it was on the toob last night and was a pretty decent effort, even a little understated in its examination of Sutherland's character as Carlos' opposite number.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ddc2 18 years ago

ok, but the story with the lookalike, is there something true about it?

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] kelani 18 years ago

Not sure in this case, but the various 3-lettered organizations have been known to use lookalikes and/or amazing makeup techniques in plenty of former operations, so it's not too much of a stretch.

-K

Me - IMDB http://imdb.com/name/nm1485711/
--------[fear the resume]-------

[–] andythaler 17 years ago

Who knows ;-)
But it's a damn nice story.

Or how the Italians say ... 'Si no e vero, e bon trovato'...
If it is not the truth, then it is well invented...

Best regards,
Andy