Charm drips from every single frame of Melanie Laurent’s 2024 film, Freedom (or Libre in Spanish). Most of the credit for that goes to its lead star, Lucas Bravo of Emily in Paris fame. I am unfamiliar with the Netflix show, but if this movie is anything to go by, the guy is a proper movie star, having both the looks to bring the house down and acting chops to keep you glued to your seat. Laurent has mounted Freedom in a very hyper-stylized manner, that it almost feels like watching a James Bond movie from back in the day. Except Bond is the suave criminal here, and this is a true story. Bruno Sulak, on whom Freedom is based, used to be known as the ‘gentleman robber’ for always maintaining a non-violent approach. We’re going to look into the true story before discussing Freedom‘s ending.
Spoilers Ahead
What is the story of Bruno Sulak?
Algerian-born Bruno Sulak grew up in Marseille, France, before joining the French foreign legion as a paratrooper in 1976. However, two years later he took off without permission, effectively breaking protocol and being known as “The Deserter.” That was only temporary though, as Sulak soon went on to commit as many as nineteen robberies at various jewelry stores around Paris and the Riviera. But the most notable thing about him was that despite committing such serious crimes, he never resorted to any kind of violence. That earned him the “Gentleman Robber” tag.
Sulak did get caught by a police commissioner, George Moreas, and was eventually sentenced to nine years of prison. He was serving in the Fleury-Merogis prison, from where he attempted to escape by bribing two prison guards. Unfortunately for him, he was unsuccessful due to the door of the office from where he was supposed to jump being locked. A getaway car was waiting for him outside, but he failed to make it there and ultimately died while jumping from a two-story window.
What Happens in the Movie?
Laurent’s movie may be based on Sulak, but it does come with the disclaimer that it takes artistic liberties. So I cannot confirm whether the real Bruno Sulak was the kind of passionate lover to girlfriend Annie as the movie shows. From the research that I did after watching the movie, I gathered that he had a girlfriend, but that’s all I could find. So I suppose it’s safe to assume that the fiery romance that you witness on screen is mostly fictional. So is the adorable friendship between Bruno and George Moreas. The latter is shown as the chief of the anti-crime unit in the movie, who is quite fascinated by Sulak. It is quite evident from the opening moment of the movie that Laurent intends to paint Bruno as this charming criminal with a code of conduct and also one hell of a romantic. He coolly robs a supermarket with his associate, Dragon, an older, bulky black man, with his girlfriend as the getaway driver. But when the older cashier describes the robbers to the police, all she can remember is how handsome this young man was.
While Dragon, Annie, and Bruno work like a well-oiled machine, the inclusion of Patrick in the crew doesn’t make much sense. He’s a junkie with anxiety issues, which creates quite a problem during one of the robberies. Eventually, you do realize that Bruno doesn’t quit on his friends, and Patrick is one of them. But with Dragon now aging, Bruno does need another associate. A chance meeting with Dragon’s friend Steve, a Yugoslavian man in the same line of work, sorts that issue for him. It is Steve with whom Bruno moves to robbing jewelry from looting supermarkets. The heists appear to be easy as pie, but he does get caught by Moreas, along with Annie, Dragon, and Patrick. Thanks to Bruno coming to an agreement with Moreas, Annie is free to go. Not that Moreas is able to keep Bruno in jail for long, as he finds a way to escape. He also tries to bring along his cellmate, Jean-Loup—an older man serving twelve years for robbery—but Jean-Loup is unable to climb the high prison wall. But as Bruno never abandons his friends, he returns for Jean-Loup, with Steve posing as a police officer, and this time, they are successful. The rest of Freedom is mainly about this cat and mouse game being played between Bruno and Moreas, where he gets caught but then escapes again. Somehow, a mutual respect is developed between the two, making things all too exciting.
Does Bruno Die in the End?
As Annie warns that it’s never going to end well for Bruno, Laurent’s movie makes it very clear that its leading man is very anti-establishment. He claims to not believe in the legal system and its authority to judge him. Quite naturally, he can’t be caged in a prison. But as he gets more famous amongst people, the chances of him losing the battle against authority increase. Also, his incessant urge to tease Moreas constantly leads to his downfall. Although, had Steve’s guy done a better job at the fake passport, Bruno would have managed to cross the French border and get to Italy. After robbing the world-famous Cartier store in Cannes, he was actually planning to call it a day and find his happily ever after with Annie. But that couldn’t happen as he gets sent back to prison, courtesy Moreas, and is slapped with the nine-year sentence. His death goes pretty much how it happened in the real story, although the movie hints at a conspiracy angle. Steve is also shot to death very randomly, which only strengthens the conspiracy theory. Moreas quits and visits Bruno for one last time, which I thought was the sweetest moment of the movie. Freedom ends with Annie reading Bruno’s final letter that he wrote to her from prison, about how he knows he’s going to go away and be with her forever.
Final Thoughts
You don’t see anything about Bruno’s family here, but I found out they are not too happy with Laurent making the film. As far as Laurent, this has been sort of a passion project for her, given she wanted to tell the story of Bruno Salek on screen for a long time. Strangely enough, that passion is missing in the film, which works like just another crime caper. There’s nothing particularly wrong with Freedom as per se; from acting to music to editing to cinematography, everything is adequate enough to make an entertaining movie.
But maybe the story of Bruno Salek deserved a more intense treatment. We needed to explore the man’s psyche more. The ‘why’ of his actions could have been explained further than him just wanting to be Robin Hood for people. I found it particularly surprising, given the fact that Laurent does have the skill for it, which was seen in the 2014 drama Breathe, that still remains her best directorial effort. Freedom, on the other hand, was cool, no doubt, but seems more like a watered-down version of a story about a fascinating man.
