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Not to be confused with the Eugene Pottier song existing
in more than forty languages, that has been the rallying
cry historically of the workingclass everywhere since Karl
Marx's time, the movie The International instead refers
to a far different notion about capitalism and banking.
Or maybe not.***
It's not a stretch to ponder that at this stage in
history, in an exceedingly peculiar and ironic way, capitalists
may have taken Karl Marx's creed more to heart than anyone
else, or at least had more means to do so, and gone global
in pursuit of an empowerment agenda. Which is where we are
right now as the planet is poised on the brink of economic
disaster, enough said.***
In any case, the unsettling while conventionally convoluted
global espionage thriller The International, could not be
any closer to a documentary, as it navigates an entanglement
of sinister, historically based fictionalized criminal banking
schemes worldwide, and sorts out mystery corpses and corporate
schemes alike. Directed by German filmmaker Tom Twyker,
who reinvigorated the action genre with his stylistically
inventive Run Lola Run, The International stars Clive Owen
as obsessive workaholic Interpol Agent Salinger. And also
possibly Twyker's latest Run Owen Run screen prey of choice.***
As Salinger and Manhattan DA sidekick Whitman (Naomi
Watts) burrow into the swanky sewage of global banking conspiracies
by capitalist assassins and devious suits in league with
diversifying mob racketeers worldwide, police colleagues
along with uncooperative investors and politicians turn
up dead. Clues are traced to the International Bank Of Business
(based on the Bank of Credit And Commerce International
(BCCI) scandal) headquartered in a lavish hi-rise fortress
in Luxembourg.***
Fanatically determined to track down the killers of
one of his partners, Salinger instead stumbles upon a global
financial network dabbling in arms peddling to developing
nations, in addition to the simultaneous sale of missile
and anti-missile systems to mutually hostile countries.
Not just for the sake of profit, but especially for the
more lucrative long term checkmated debt servitude of those
gullible purchasers.***
But the catch is, when you impoverish your victims,
there's nobody left to pick up the tab. Then additionally
apply those same odious principles domestically, and enter
the combo foreclosure/economic crisis here right now.***
The film effectively spices up these sobering details
- and manages to do so without a single one of those hormonally
driven secret agents or mandatory sexed up encounters that
typically inhabit these espionage thrillers, and without
any sense that something essential is missing. While a brilliantly
inspired choreographed showdown at a mock Guggenheim Museum
maze in NYC between cops and multiple bad guys kicks in,
against a wild backdrop of performance art displays interacting
with the real world, and dazzling with its shock and awe
staging of multi-layered mayhem.***
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