Speaking of a film I want to watch again and again. Well, it is definitely Léon: The Professional. It’s an English-language French action crime thrill film.
Leon (Jean Reno) is a tortured soul. He lives in squalor and misery, never truly happy or at peace with himself. After all, he is a hitman. He lives quietly from kill to kill, harming no-one whom he has not been paid to assassinate. He is a simplistic, childlike man who lives by his own set of morals but is troubled by them. The one thing he seems to fear above all else is change.
Mathilda (Natalie Portman) is Leon’s neighbour. A young girl, she lives with her father, step-mother, half-sister and half-brother. As unhappy as Leon, she lives in awe of the dark stranger, unaware of his true profession. Beaten by her parents and sister, she has abandoned school and instead spends the day watching cartoons and trying to escape from the real world.
When Mathilda’s family is brutally murdered by a drug crazed Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman), her only chance for survival is to hide with her neighbour. When she learns of Leon’s true identity, she becomes infatuated with both him, and the grim world he inhabits.
I first watch it seven years ago when one of my best friends recommended it to me with the enticing comment: With enough blood and gore to please any fan of action movies, and a unique love story to please the ladies, this is a great movie for couples to watch together.
This film was absolutely amazing. I have spent hours re-watching various scenes and noticing all the perfection with which they are acted and directed. It’s not the violence or action sequences that make this movie so great (although they are well done...), but rather moments like where Mathilda knocks on Leon’s door. It would be so easy to just film the door opening, but instead we see light illuminating Natalie Portman’s face, symbolizing something angelic. And the moment has so much more meaning.
