De zaak alzheimer in bioscoop
Geplaatst: 27 aug 2005, 19:48
Dit is ongetwijfeld de beste film die in België gemaakt is en nu kunnen de Amerikanen ook genieten van deze schitterende film..
'Memory' plays mind games of the most painful kind
By Bob Strauss, Film Critic
The Belgian thriller "The Memory of a Killer" boasts a killer gimmick. Its main protagonist is an aging hit man in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
Unlike "Memento" or most other suspense films that feature memory loss, this one keeps the creeping dementia peripheral to the main action. Angelo Ledda's (Jan Decleir) forgetfulness really only comes into play at a handful of key plot points. It serves more as a motivation for the lifelong criminal to, in the twilight of his senses, attempt a kind of redemption the only way he knows how.
So a lot of bad people die. And maybe a few not-so-bad. It's getting hard for Ledda to tell the difference.
Based on "The Alzheimer Case," a novel in Jef Geeraerts' series about mismatched Antwerp detective partners Eric Vincke (elegant, intellectual Koen De Bouw) and Freddy Verstuyft (Werner De Smedt, coarse and impulsive), "Memory" is essentially a crackling policier. A series of murders related to a child prostitution case lead the investigators higher and higher up Belgium's elite power structure. This naturally gets their superiors and rival gendarmes upset, while the elusive, monumentally clever and ruthless Ledda becomes their primary guide to the top of the conspiracy chain.
Vincke and Verstuyft want to catch him, sure, but Ledda is, in his violent way, more valuable to them on the loose.
Directed by Erik Van Looy with a stylish arsenal of prowling Steadicams, severe angles and zoom cuts, "Memory" is sometimes a bit too slick for its own good. It can also seem that Ledda is far too crafty for someone who is losing his mind. For that reason, and since it doesn't exploit the condition too obviously, some may think that the movie misses
the boat where its main premise is concerned.
I did, before I realized how subtly the filmmaker and Decleir make Ledda's recollections as much a part of his thought process as forgetfulness. The film also revitalizes the standard cop-criminal relationship with impassioned complexity.
In the end, "Memory of a Killer" sticks, hauntingly, with you.