Meet the world’s most brazen, unrepentant ‘Jewel Thief’
nypost.comBlanchard, now in his early 50s, is cocky, unrepentant and defiant. He tells his own (oft-exaggerrated) story — aided and abetted by interviews with friends and family — in “The Jewel Thief,” a new Hulu documentary directed by Landon Van Soest.
It traces Blanchard’s life of crime in both Canada and the US and ends in a worldwide manhunt spearheaded by two indefatigable Winnipeg detectives.“Not only is he unrepentant, but as he says [in the documentary] he’s proud of it.
He owns it,” Van Soest told The Post. “I see [his life of crime] more as an obsession and an ambition; I think he truly wanted to be great at what he was doing, and he wanted to be recognized for being great at what he was doing.“So, for him to find an audience, with police willing to chase him around the globe … he feels he’s earned it.”Born in Winnipeg, and adopted as a baby, Blanchard moved with his single mother to Omaha, Neb.
It was a tough, inner-city environment and he had a tough time fitting in — he was reed-thin, shy and highly intelligent — but emerged from his shell in high school via his newly acquired VHS camera.
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