The life of writer, screenwriter and director Jose Giovanni can be good material for the script of a movie waiting to be made in the future. Giovanni was far from a nice guy in his youth, and when he became a successful novelist and filmmaker he even used and boasted about his past experiences as a criminal and a prisoner, but for a long time concealed the fact that his crimes included collaboration with the Nazi occupiers, and that the death penalty (commuted to prison) he had received was for murder, blackmail and torture. Watching his films today confronts the viewer with the dilemma of separating interesting artistic creations from aspects of the life of the artist who made them. Giovanni 's past experiences when adapting a 'serie noire' novel by John Carrick for the screen provide an interesting perspective on the main character of 'Le rapace' (film released in English markets as 'Birds of Pray') - a lone and seemingly unscrupulous hitman embroiled in a political intrigue in a Central American country in the years leading up to World War II.
We never learn the name of the main hero of the film. He is one of those people who are known by profession (mercenary killer) and maybe by a nickname, who have several names and probably only they know the real one. At the beginning of the film we see him disembark in Mexico and travel to one of the Central American countries on the country's southern border. He is hired to assassinate the president of this country who is going to visit his mistress in a dusty little town. Those paying him are a group of rebels who hope that the assassination will allow them to seize power. Freedom fighters? At least some of them look so, including the young man with whom our hero must carry out the murder and who, if successful, will take the glory of the deed and become a national hero. Accustomed to acting alone, the hitman reluctantly accepts the young man's company. A tense relationship develops between the two, which only events that take an unexpected turn will transform into something else.
The lone gangster is one of the favorite characters of the 'noir' films that were very popular in the creation of directors who started their careers in the New Wave and continued in the commercial cinema of France, from Melville to Giovanni. The origin of the character can be found in the American cinema of the 40s and 50s and the heroes played by Humphrey Bogard and his peers. However, the hero of 'Le rapace' finds himself in a different environment, that of Latin America, and here the influence of Sergio Leone's films is felt. Even the excellent musical score by Francois de Roubaix is visibly influenced by what Ennio Morricone had done for Leone. Lino Ventura dominates the film with his formidable acting, but I'm sure he had seen Clint Eastwood in spaghetti westerns. Even if the other actors don't manage to come close to what Ventura does, the cast - made up mostly of little-known Mexican actors - is interesting. 'Le rapace' is an unexpectedly modern and entertaining film, and we can enjoy watching it, forgetting for 105 minutes the hard-to-digest details of its director's biography.
