Description Filmmaker Olivier Assayas Interview : Carlos The Jacal: "I think there's no terrorism as such, there's only state terrorism, state-sponsored terrorism. A film like Carlos is the only thing I can do, with feeble means of cinema and art, to expose the notion that terrorism is always determined by geo politics. Terrorism is about one state sending a message to another. Usually you never know who is sending a message to whom, it only surfaces years later. De-romanticizing terrorismis the best I can do.the director behind Carlos said what was interesting and strange about Carlos is how he became a star for the media. One of the most wanted terrorists on the planet, Carlos made headlines in 1975, during the raid on the OPEC headquarters in Vienna. This was followed by a series of other attacks. Carlos, 60, is serving a life sentence in a French prison, he continues to be savvy about manipulating the news media. Through his wife and lawyer, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, he has complained about the film, citing details both small (he said he smokes cigars rather than cigarettes) and large (the attack on the OPEC meeting in Vienna was supported, he claimed, not by Saddam Hussein but by Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader).
