The Assignment (1997 film)
| The Assignment | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Christian Duguay |
| Produced by | Franco Battista Tom Berry |
| Written by |
Dan Gordon Sabi H. Shabtai |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Normand Corbeil |
| Cinematography | Christian Duguay David Franco |
| Edited by | Yves Langlois |
| Distributed by |
Triumph Films (US) (Sony Pictures Entertainment) |
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Release date
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Running time
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119 min. |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $332,597 (domestic) |
The Assignment is a 1997 spy thriller film directed by Christian Duguay and starring Aidan Quinn in two roles, Donald Sutherland, and Ben Kingsley. The film, written by Dan Gordon and Sabi H. Shabtai, is set mostly in the late 1980s and deals with a CIA plan to use Quinn's character to masquerade as the Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal.
The film opens to the sounds of a couple having sex. Afterwards, Carlos the Jackal (Aidan Quinn) kills a spider in its web with his cigarette and evicts the woman (Lucie Laurier) from his room because he claims he has work to do. He is seen donning a disguise, and he walks to a cafe where CIA officer Jack Shaw (Donald Sutherland) is sitting at a table outdoors. He recognizes Shaw and asks for a light. Shaw does not recognize Carlos, because of his disguise, but he turns to watch Carlos enter the cafe. He watches as Carlos detonates a grenade, killing dozens of people.
The film shows an event of attacking the OPEC meeting by the Jackal and his followers in 1975.
In 1986 a man, looking like Carlos, is apprehended in an open-air market and brutally interrogated by a Mossad commander named Amos (Ben Kingsley). The man claims to actually be a US Naval officer named Annibal Ramirez whose identification was lost in the chaos of his arrest. Amos confirms his identity and lets him go, stunned that Ramirez looks exactly like Carlos. Back at home, Ramirez is visited by Shaw who tries to recruit him to impersonate the terrorist leader. Ramirez, however, is deeply embittered by his rough treatment at Amos' hands, and threatens to sue.
Shaw persists, confronting Ramirez with the human cost of Carlos' terrorism. He finally convinces Ramirez by showing him a photograph of child who is a victim of one of Carlos' bombings.
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Wikipedia