Sans arme, ni haine, ni violence (2008) User Reviews

Without weapons, hatred, or violence

[jotix100 · 5/10 · 16 August 2009]

Albert Spaggiari, the infamous man responsible for one of the biggest bank heists of the last century, is at the center of this story. Although the actual robbery is seen briefly, it made the man famous for stealing from an institution not likely to have been robbed.

We come to the story as Vincent Goumard, a free lance journalist makes contact with Spaggiari's men under the pretext of an interview with the notorious bandit, now living in a South American country, not unlike Brazil, but not identified by name. Unknown to Spaggiari, or his associates, Goumard was acting with the police and the idea was to kidnap him and return him to France for justice.

The problem with the film, directed by Jean-Paul Rouve, is that it never makes up its mind whether to be a comedy, or a thriller. Mr. Rouve makes the mistake of other actors in trying to act and direct. Perhaps a better film would have resulted with another man in charge. As an actor, Mr. Rouve does not convince. When all is set and done, nothing new comes out about the caper.

The true story of Albert Spaggiari

[searchanddestroy-1 · 20 April 2008]

That's the second film made about the 1976 Nice heist.

A bunch of fifteen or twenty men drilled during two months a tunnel between the sewer net and the Societe Generale safe deposit room. The bank vault. They forced 317 armored boxes, and did not forget the bank one too. They grabbed more than 50 millions of France - 16 millions of dollars.

The leader - the brain - of this bunch was arrested several months later and escaped one year after, in 1977, jumping out of the judge's office, and disappeared. He ran away from France to South America. He has never been caught again.

Albert Spaggiari was not a real gangster, but a hard boiled adventurer, former paratrooper during the Indochina and Algeria wars. A real hard boiled guy. And most of his former brother in arms - the surviving ones - followed him, were at his side in this outstanding expedition. The remaining hoods were, however, authentic gangsters, specialists in safe cracking with oxyacetylene cutting torches.

Another movie was made in 1979, directed by Jose Giovanni. It focused more on the heist itself, not the afterwads...

The 2008 film points out the escape in a South America country, where a "journalist" tries to meet the famous thief for making an interview.

Spaggiari is shown as a weird character. Racist and engaging at the same time. Ambivalent.

In short, it's an interesting film for anyone who looks for details about the mighty 1976 heist, the equivalent of the 1963 Great Train Robbery - the Glasgow London one.

But that's another story...