Carlos

In our Post-911 World it’s fascinating to settle down with this compelling series to watch how terrorists operated decades before the Twin Towers fell. It’s not the differences between now and then that amaze us; it’s the similarities that scare us. Édgar Ramírez stars as Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, known to the world as Carlos, a brutal, charismatic killer who was responsible for a wave of terror attacks in Europe and the Middle East in the ’70s and ’80s. Director Olivier Assayas manages pull off the unthinkable in his movie: he makes the dialogue as explosive as any of the actual detonations taking place on the screen. When Carlos talks, you listen. More than that, thanks to a seductive performance by Ramírez, you completely understand why people listen, then act on what they’ve been told.