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Espion, lève-toi (1982)
So underrated
This is the height of the cold war and Europe is divided.
This is not made more explicit in the movie for it was just the state of affairs at the time. Anyone who was living in Europe at the time will remember the constant threat of nuclear annihilation, as well as violent activism especially from ultra left wing groups such as the Baader Meinhof group or the Red Army Fractions, (not to mention separatists group in France or Spain which are not depicted here).
Sébastien Grenier, part of a French sleeper cell in neutral Switzerland, is woken up after the assassination of another agent by ultra-left gang in broad daylight in Zurich, and his life is upset.
I read in another review that "what they are spying on is never mentioned" - that's the nature of a sleeper cell: they don't spy. The original French title (roughly "Spy, wake up!") was, I thought, quite explicit.
The movie is a remarkable depiction of the political manipulation of idealist groups and inter play of rival "intelligence" networks, including the utter disrespect for the life of others.
Yes, Lino Ventura plays himself in here, because the character calls for exactly that. The Swiss cultural melting pot of is wonderfully rendered, support cast is excellent, Daniel Piccoli is marvelously slimy and renders his character perfectly...
No big biceps, no M16, no big badasses in this movie; it has a much more realistic take on what the game was at the time, with all its finesse and inhumanity.
Even Ennio Moricone's soundtrack is just right.
Maybe it was poorly translated, or maybe the rating public is expecting Schwarzenegger, but I saw this movie in French shortly after it came out and several times since and I will watch it again for it is truly remarkable.
One of my favorite movies ever. 10.