" Rififi, "Jules Dassin 
One of the unwritten laws of the cinema, said it was useless to try to invent something new to tell. Everything has been created in the past. Watching "Rififi," the law seems to be confirmed immediately. Dassin's film can be defined as a parent of all the gangster movie genre. From then on, little remains to be invented. Viewed today, the first thing you could say about "Rififi" is that it is a film classic. Everything is in place. Band of robbers, bad guy, impossible shot, ransom and even if the ex is now with the rival boss. Everything as expected. But since the production year, 1955, and observe more carefully, the more appropriate term to describe it is "modern" or even "innovative". Usually the gangster movie is divided into two types: those that link all the characters, making them multi-faceted, often over the top with distinctive well-marked and those that focus more sull'intreccio, the "blow" trying to create a more original story and confused as possible, but at the expense of the characters end up being masks typical of the genre.
"Rififi" at first glance you would classify in the second group. If it were not for Tony, the graduate, the head of the group, the organizer of the plan. Why Tony is an ambiguous character, multifaceted, ever-changing. Not only is the gang leader, is something more. At the beginning of the film, when we make his knowledge is an unlucky poker player. One must ask for money to friends, to continue to play, because its still a losing hand after another. And what is more, now he no longer trusts anyone. Soon after we find out more about him. It 's a bank robber, or rather it is a good bank robber, or even better was a good bank robber, but that now seems to be on the road to retirement. It 's a clear mind, who knows what he's intelligent. After a few minutes here is a new mutation. Now we see him in the guise of a loving stepfather, with his loving stepson which also bears his name. There is even funny. And come this far (it is only 10 minutes) we seem to be confronted by the classic good-hearted thief with a lot of experience behind us and now not much to ask of life.
But things change when he enters her, the woman he loved, which is from the past. And now Tony takes off his belt and began beating the woman in revenge for betrayal. A beater of women, a violent man. Other
that gentleman thief as we thought. This has a soul, black, dark, violent occurring for a woman, a stupid love story. Last metamorphosis at the end of the film when the hero wears the mask. E 'him to save the child and bring him home to die by his mother. A character so rich and changeable, which is very interesting to join with other gang members, on the contrary, reflect the standards of the genre without major changes. And 'Tony to create the plan and then, in a sense, to destroy (do not forget that it is was to choose him in the band Caesar, the Marseillaise, the burglar womanizer who ends up being the weak point of the group).
"Rififi" shines above all the script, well-designed that does not reveal until the end of his final. Until the end, in fact, no one knows how the story will end, who will survive and who will end up with a bullet in his chest. The plot finds himself unwittingly involved in which Jo, arm band, the father of the child abducted is masterful. Everything seemed to be resolved, and instead an unforeseen change the cards on the table.
But the core of the film is the big scene, the robbery. About 30 minutes of pure cinema. A story in pictures of great tension and beautifully orchestrated, including directing, photography and interpretation. A robbery that goes to school. The strength of this sequence is in the discovery of the plan and little by little thanks to the intuition of Jules Dassin and Rene Wheeler, screenwriters of the film, eliminating another traditional feature of the genre: the presentation of the plan. The robbery is filed there. We do not see Tony explain the plan to his companions (and us) but we see the plan put in place in silence, a piece at a time.
"Rififi" is a great gangster movie. A beautifully photographed black and white that made the school. A well-made film, good rhythm, that until the end does not leave you a moment to distract you.
