The day of the jackal
The day of the jackalFrederick Forsythe, master storyteller and suspense-novelist, retired in 1997, and that was a damn shame. Since 1971, Forsythe has fabricated some of the best intrigue and espionage novels in the world, and many of his books have become films, among them The Odessa File, The Dogs of War, and The Fourth Protocol. Perhaps best-known of his novels is his first, The Day of the Jackal, a work that was so overwhelming in its craft and detail that he was immediately compared to John Le Carre, the preeminent spy novelist of the day.
I first saw Fred Zinneman's The Day of the Jackal many years ago, and was so spellbound that I immediately bought the book. The book made such a further impression upon me that I have now read every one of Forsythe's novels, and most more than once. I was saddened when he announced his retirement, because his skill as a storyteller, his ability to describe locales around the world in the finest particulars, and his use of red herrings and plot twists, have given me hours and hours of pleasure.
So when a studio decides to make another version of The Day of the Jackal, which to them always means "improving" the original work or "updating it for the '90s," there's no way I can let it go without a few comments. This particular tale of an enigmatic assassin who agrees to take one last job -- the murder of Charles De Gaulle -- is one of the best suspense novels ever written, and Fred Zinneman's 1973 film, with the screenplay by Kenneth Ross, is the most faithful adaptation of any novel that I know.
The 1997 version? Well, I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. But you can read along anyway.
In the early 1960s, Charles De Gaulle -- war hero, leader of the French Resistance, and then-president of France -- did something a little controversial. He decided to give up Algeria. While this political decision was entirely in keeping with post-colonial Europe's desire to rid themselves of their costly African colonies, some members of the French military were outraged. After all, hadn't they fought for Algeria, occupied Algeria, paid with their own lives in Algeria? Why would they sacrifice so much if De Gaulle was simply going to give it up? One faction of the Army that was particularly opposed to the Algerian policy -- and opposed to De Gaulle in general -- went underground, calling themselves the OAS (Organisation Armee Secret). War heroes and patriots turned bank robbers and seditionists, they took great pains to conceal themselves while waging a low-grade terrorist campaign against the French government. However, they did not regard themselves as criminals. They saw themselves as the true moral voice of France. As is was, the conflict between the OAS and France's Action Service, the military wing of the French Secret Service (SDECE, or Service de Documentation Exterieure et de Contre-Espionage), wore...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.