La Bandera is a great film for impatient people. It hooks you almost as fast as possible. A drunken couple, teetering through the darkened streets of Barcelona, pass a man in a hurry. The girl, joking, tries to dance with him; but he’s in no mood. He exits, and we see blood on her dress. It’s blood from the man’s hands, where they touched her waist. He’s a murderer, and he’s on the run.
That Pierre Gilieth is a murderer is never in doubt. It’s one of the few things about Gilieth (Jean Gabin) that we know for certain. Other things we know: He is a Frenchman alone in Spain; he has no money and no job; no friends and no woman. He can be easy-going, but he moves frighteningly quickly from frustration to rage—drawing his temper up from some place deeply buried, then directing it with brute force upon the source of his problems. His impulse is it to get away; to be left alone.
