Once I sat down to look at Stolen: The Heist of the Century with my Netflix subscription, I had a good suggestion what I used to be moving into. Years in the past, in the course of the Covid lockdown, I listened to an audiobook in regards to the 2003 diamond heist in Antwerp, Belgium, referred to as Flawless: Contained in the Largest Diamond Heist in Historical past, which this documentary relies on. The brand new documentary is great, and it offers off vibes of each Ocean’s Eleven and The Normal Suspects, two of my favourite films. I can’t determine which it jogs my memory of extra.
Like Clooney And Firm, The Robbers Actually Deliberate The Heist Completely
I like an ideal heist film, and Ocean’s Eleven is without doubt one of the finest heist films of all time. Clearly, the planning and the crew’s skill to bypass a number of safety programs is what actually makes that film so enjoyable. Nicely, that and the chemistry among the many all-star solid of Ocean’s Eleven (and the basic one-liners). At each flip, the group of lovable criminals is aware of precisely what they should do to get previous the biometrics, cameras, and the remainder of the high-end tech out to thwart them.
That’s precisely what the crew of robbers in Stolen needed to do as nicely. Movement detectors, a number of locks, a vault, cameras, and warmth sensors have been arrange within the focused constructing, Antwerp Diamond Middle. They spent two years, because the investigators within the documentary clarify, figuring out the plan. In response to one of many robbers, Leonardo Notarbartolo (who’s interviewed within the movie), the crew consisted of 5 specialists, similar to the eleven specialists in Ocean’s Eleven.
It additionally helps that the filmmakers have been clearly impressed by the vibe that director Steven Soderbergh dropped at Ocean’s with the music and the cinematography. Stolen feels just like the George Clooney and Brad Pitt-led basic.
The Story Additionally Sounds Like The Normal Suspects
Notarbartolo, who was one of many 4 males convicted of committing the crime, is who the investigator’s consider was the final word mastermind behind the theft. Nonetheless, in Stolen, Notarbartolo claims there was one other, extra mysterious determine who recruited him and the remainder of the individuals. He claims to solely know him by the title “Alessandro.”
If, as investigators and prosecutors consider, Notarbartolo was the man planning the heist, then he’s the Keyser Soze of the crew. He’s there, he’s concerned, however he was far more necessary than even the remainder of the robbers appeared to know, similar to Kevin Spacey’s character in The Normal Suspects. Certain, nobody died (fortunately), and Notarbartolo was convicted of being the chief and spent 10 years in jail consequently, whereas Soze walked away and disappeared on the finish of the film.
Nonetheless, with a mysterious determine like “Alessandro” probably lurking within the shadows, it feels similar to the Bryan Singer-directed basic. Notarbartolo claims he by no means noticed any cash on account of the heist, however virtually not one of the diamonds stolen (estimated to be between $100 and $300 million price) have been recovered. By all accounts, the convicted individuals don’t stay like that they had a multimillion-dollar windfall, so it appears doable that there was a man behind the man.
We might by no means know the solutions. It’s been greater than 20 years, these convicted of the crime have served their time and been launched, and we nonetheless don’t know the place the diamonds went. What I do know is that Stolen: The Heist of the Century is without doubt one of the finest documentaries on the 2025 TV schedule.