The Assignment is a 1997 spy action thriller film directed by Christian Duguay and starring Aidan Quinn (in two roles), with Donald Sutherland and Ben Kingsley.

The film, written by Dan Gordon and Sabi H. Shabtai, is set mostly in the late 1980s and deals with a CIA plan to use Quinn's character to masquerade as the Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal.

He dons a disguise and walks to a cafe where CIA agent Henry Fields is sitting at a table.

The plan is foiled when his CIA superior stops him from reaching out to shake Carlos' hand because he might be photographed doing so by nearby journalists.

In 1986, Carlos is apparently apprehended in an open-air market in Jerusalem and brutally interrogated by Mossad commander Amos.

The man claims to actually be a US naval officer named Annibal Ramirez whose identification was lost in the chaos of his arrest.

Back at home, Ramirez is visited by Fields (now using the name Jack Shaw) who tries to recruit him to impersonate the terrorist leader.

The plan revolves around convincing the KGB, which is financing his terrorism, that Carlos has begun selling information to the CIA.

Back home, a car bomb appears to kill Ramirez and his family, and Shaw attends the funeral.