Jean Gabin as Marxist God figure

There are only two reasons to see this film: 1. Jean Gabin and 2. An almost flawless example of a certain zeitgeist of the early 70:s. There has been several films made in several countries around the basic theme: in an evil system it's the oppressors that are responsible for creating criminals, who are actually themselves victims of a faulty society, therefore criminals should be set free and the system overturn - a new, better system shall come in which, by default, there will be no crime because we won't have any cause for it. All based on a Marxist conception of criminality in modern society that, by the way, still after 40 years rules among most criminologists in western Europe. All this is handed down to us by an extremely heavy-handed director (Giovanni is responsible for writing some of the best scripts in French cinema and should have left directing to directors), complete with lines such as "People will march on the streets!" and Gabin's final judgment on society "It's a killing machine". An utterly unbelievable criminal-turned-angel Delon tries to go straight after a 10-year sentence but the effort is shattered by an utterly unbelievably evil police detective. All this is witnessed by an elderly parole officer (Gabin) with a heart of gold. The plot is predictable, the end inevitable, and only the worst Hollywood-moralizing studio efforts are better at hammering a message down your throat. Here the message seems to be political while in Hollywood it's often rather religious, but the technique is the same, and strangely, you can hardly miss the Devil and God working around a hapless Man even here. Unless you're a fan of the great Jean Gabin, it's a waste of time.


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