Mesrine: Public Enemy # 1

Mesrine: Public Enemy # 1 is a much tighter and more intense film than part one. Mesrine is now a hardened criminal due to the torture and rough treatment he received while interned in a maximum security prison. After his escape he manages to return to France and continue his number one occupation, robbing banks. He feels completely justified robbing banks because that is where the money is and they are bigger crooks than he is.

Mesrine continues with his flirtation with the press. When he is eventually captured, he beguiles his jury and entertains the media by demonstrating how corrupt the judicial system is. While serving a twenty year sentence he is appalled when someone else steals his front page status. He responds by writing a book chronicling his adventures and admitting to forty murders.

While in prison he meets another convict who has escaped prison three times. Mesrine respects anyone who can match his record so together they plan their fourth escape. After succeeding, Mesrine is Public Enemy #1 again, but this time he has illusions of grandeur. He nows sees himself as a kind of revolutionary. His partner Francois, Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) robs banks for the money. But Mesrine wants to bring the justice system down. While outside, the two of them become masters of disguise and experts at eluding the police. Mesrine even poses as a doctor to visit his dying father and later the two of them impersonate police officers and actually inspect the local police station. As they are questioning the officer in charge as to their number of staff and readiness, their wanted posters are just over the police officer’s shoulder. Their boldness is really astonishing.

Like Mesrine: Killer Instinct we get to see Mesrine as a personal man. We see him as a son, a father, a friend and a lover. He takes pride in his reputation and he considers himself a man of honor. After Francois parts with him over differences in ideology, a reporter accuses Mesrine of being disloyal and abandoning his partner. Mesrine’s reaction is to confront the reporter and to beat him within an inch of his life.

We know all along that Mesrine’s life is going to end up in a bloody ambush, but we are captivated while we watch the ever entwining pieces fall into place. The book that Mesrine wrote about himself has been studied by the very police who hunt him. One detective, Le Commissaire Broussard (Oliver Gourmet) has already captured him once. He is determined to do it again and he is using Mesrine’s own words against him.

Like part one, Vincent Cassel puts in a fine performance as Jacques Mesrine. It is almost like he has a duel personality. When he is at rest or with a loved one his face is light and his sense of humor is sharp. He is truly a charismatic man. But when he is cornered, he becomes dark, menacing, animalistic and dangerous. His hubris is his public image and he even goes as far as to grant a magazine reporter a full interview including photos. No wonder he became a fascination with the public. Anyone that bold and arrogant gets a begrudging respect. He entertained the people during a dark economic and political time. Like other anti-heroes before him, he had charm and panache. All said and done, he is a criminal to remember.

Rating: First Run The fascinating demise of a notorious criminal