Der Mann mit der Stahlkralle

This film was presented at the festival by Quentin Tarantino himself, who described it as one of the films that influenced him the most, and to which he even devotes an entire chapter in his book “Cinema Speculation”. Before the screening, he urged us not to look at the film like the French, but to let our emotions go; to shout, clap and whistle if we feel like it, and the screening looked like that, which may have added to my experience, and I enjoyed the film immensely. I guess that's why I dare say it's one of the best vendetta movies I've ever seen. We are very slowly introduced to the main character Charles, a survivor of imprisonment and torture in Vietnam. On his return he receives a large reward as compensation and he immediately becomes victim of robbers, but he is so hardened by all the torture that getting a sound of pain out of him is an impossible task for these Mexican thugs. After the killing of his wife and son, he begins to prepare for revenge, which may seem lengthy, but slowly leads to that great carnage of a finale. William Devane plays emotionlessness brilliantly, inspiring both respect and compassion, and one quickly grows to like him. Tommy Lee Jones is a great second to him, and Linda Haynes also shines. From what I understand, this film is quite a cult classic in America and not very well known here, which is quite a shame, so let's fix that 😊 [Festival de Cannes 2023] (31.05.2023)