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Rating: Many Dereviewers may have found themselves having to (because they know in their hearts it's something that must be done) review a work with a capital W, a work that instills in you a sort of reverential fear, a work that you can only comment on with timid "masterpiece, great film, beautiful"
In return, this kind of works allows you to step out of the marginal role of the "background reviewer," who only comments on or brings forward little-known books or films or albums, which in any case do not make you shout a miracle.
In short, my legs are shaking, because this is perhaps the most significant work I've ever presented. Anyway, enough chit-chat and let's try, albeit timidly, to present this work.
Thomas Babington "Babe" Levy is an introverted history student at university with a hobby of training for a marathon by running around Central Park. Meanwhile, an old Holocaust survivor recognizes while driving a Nazi war criminal and engages with him in an unhealthy race of who insults more and who makes his wreck run faster, and the race ends with a "bang," literally: they crash into a fire engine and both blow up. Our deceased Nazi friend had a key that opened a locker containing a briefcase with many, many diamonds, and now the only one with a key that can open the locker with the briefcase containing many, many diamonds is Christian Szell, a Nazi war criminal and the deceased's brother. Christian Szell is forced to go to New York to retrieve the treasure, and meanwhile, he stabs Babe's brother, a diamond courier and double-crosser, who, bleeding, drags himself to Babe's apartment and dies there. Thus, unwillingly, our student finds himself in the midst of a deal between Nazi war criminals, counterintelligence, and secret services. He just wanted to go running, poor thing...
A tense thriller full of suspense, aged very well (which is no small feat, considering I watched it on videotape with all the commercials from those years), and featuring that great torture scene, a nightmare for people with sensitive teeth.
Christian Szell is sly and deceitful, hiding under his image of a defenseless old man a foe full of pitfalls (namely a bracelet with a retractable blade), and the Director doesn't press too hard on the discussions of Nazism and persecution, which given the themes addressed, could risk becoming excessively burdensome and onerous.
Excellent performances from all the actors, among whom stand out an icy and impassive Roy Scheider and an at times astonished Dustin Hoffman.
A great film that stays within its limits without venturing too far into ideological fields as would be expected, given the themes dealt with.
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