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Two girls disappear
The police recruit Paul Chartier to join a secret unit investigating a sex offender. After the operation stalls, Chartier, disillusioned with legal constraints, pursues the perpetrators on his own. Features Nosferatu, symphony of straves (1922). In “Maldoror,” director Fabrice du Welz tackles one of the darkest chapters in Belgium’s recent history.
This failure led to a thorough reorganization of law enforcement
The 1996 kidnapping and murder of several teenage girls by Marc Dutroux caused a national trauma. The fact that local police and investigators barely cooperated in the investigation may have cost the girls their lives. The film tells the story from the perspective of a police officer, Paul Charlier, who searched the basement where the girls were hidden. He heard them whispering, but was unable to find them due to the limited search warrant.
Charlier knows he is right, but his superiors have other priorities
These events happened in reality, but Du Welz mixes fact and fiction in his film. He portrays the policeman as a typical street cop who prefers his inner feelings to rules and procedures. His persistence and lack of respect for the authorities ultimately lead to his downfall, the end of his marriage, but also to his ultimate moral victory. The film is both an exciting police thriller and a character study of Charlier.
Visually, the film is a joy to watch
His strong will is the result of his upbringing: his parents were far from law-abiding. He is determined to be on the “right side”, but for him the main thing is to hunt down criminals. If rules and regulations get in the way, he ignores them. The abandoned industrial wasteland of Charleroi, where the kidnappings took place, is used to its fullest.
However, some events are clearly fictional
The gloomy atmosphere is further enhanced by the hopelessness of the city, where illegal activities flourish. The film documents an important part of Belgian history, and for those who followed the events at the time, it is an interesting interpretation. In order to create an exciting police thriller with political elements, the film abandoned historical accuracy.
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