The Professional

A French agent is sent to assassinate an African head of state. When the political balance shifts mid-mission his own service burns him, and two years later he escapes from prison. Back home, he decides to complete the assignment anyway. The film's subject is not action but the cold reckoning between a man and the institution that sold him; the narrative rests on Belmondo's quiet anger. Georges Lautner directed. The score is by Ennio Morricone and became famous in France independently of the film. Belmondo continued to work without a double. Who it's for: those who like French action cinema of the nineteen-eighties. Who it's not for: viewers troubled by its depiction of postcolonial Africa; the film uses countries and people as backdrop.