![]() ![]() Bresson's Michel, like Dostoyevsky's hero Raskolnikov, needs money in order to realize his dreams, and sees no reason why some lackluster ordinary person should not be forced to supply it. In this story you may sense echoes of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, another story about a lonely intellectual who lived in a garret and thought he had a license, denied to common men, to commit crimes. That is his moment of release, of triumph over a lesser person-although of course his face never reflects joy. He waits for a moment of distraction,and then opens their purses or slips their wallets from their coats. On the Metro or at the racetrack, he stands as close as possible to his victims, sensing their breathing, their awareness of him. ![]() Also, of course, he gets an erotic charge out of stealing. He sits in his garret and reads his books, and treasures an image of himself as a man so special that he is privileged to steal from others. He gathers his narcissism around himself like a blanket. He could probably get a job in a day if he wanted one. To one of them, in a cafe, he wonders aloud if it is all right for an “extraordinary man” to commit a crime-just to get himself started? He usually wears a suit and tie, disappears in a crowd and has few friends. Martin Lassalle, the star of “Pickpocket,” plays Michel as an unexceptional man with a commonplace face. Instead of asking his actors to “show fear,” Bresson asks them to show nothing, and depends on his story and images to supply the fear. What we see in the pickpocket's face is what we bring to it. No emotion, no style, no striving for effect. All Bresson wanted was physical movement. He famously forced the star of “ A Man Escaped” (1956) to repeat the same scene some 50 times,until it was stripped of all emotion and inflection. An erudite scholar and prolific writer, he has published several articles in reputed journals.Or do we? Bresson, one of the most thoughtful and philosophical of directors, was fearful of “performances” by his actors. Thereafter, he served as a lecturer in Criminology on ad hoc basis in his Alma Mater. He was a recipient of the coveted Dr Ganesh Ram Mukharaya Gold Medal for obtaining the highest record percentage of marks in the M.A. Though young in years he has had a distinguished career. in Criminology and Forensic Science from Sagar University, M.P. The conclusion of the author on this point can be aptly summed up thus: Society prepares the crime, the criminal commits it. Last but not the least, the fact that makes this study a truly pioneering one is an investigation of the causes for people turning to this profession. Astonishing is the revelation that contrary to popular belief, the methods employed by the pickpockets in tackling their victims are in no way unscien tific or haphazard. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the book is an overview of tools, techniques and argot of pickpocketing. Using the almost obsolete technique of participant observation, the author offers an in-depth analysis of the subject against the backdrop of Sagar town endorsing the study with numerous tables, figures, maps and photographs. The book includes an extensive and fascina ting review of classic literature pertaining to pickpocketing. This delicate subject - delicate, because it involves a vulnerable and craven genre of human beings has been tackled in an exemplary manner by K.K. The frequency of incidents of pickpocketing in buses and elsewhere is ample proof of the fact that this crime cannot be relegated to Faganian fiction. Criminology is one such aspect of human behaviour which continues to pique experts in spite of its Methuselahic origins. ![]() Human behaviour will always remain a subject of intrigue for its devoted pursuers.
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