The Lost Son
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Lost Son |
| Original title | The Lost Son |
| Country of production |
France UK USA |
| original language |
English French |
| Publishing year | 1999 |
| length | 102 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Chris Menges |
| script |
Eric Leclere Margare Leclere Mark Mills |
| production | Finola Dwyer |
| music | Goran Bregović |
| camera | Barry Ackroyd |
| cut |
Pamela Power Luc Barnier |
| occupation | |
| |
The Lost Son , alternative title The Wrath of the Hunter , is a crime film directed by Chris Menges in 1999. It was made in a Franco-British-US co-production.
The French private investigator Xavier Lombard is entrusted by a family with the search for their missing son and finds a child trafficking ring during the investigation.
action
The Paris policeman Xavier Lombard lost his wife and daughter in the attack by a drug lord, whom he then supposedly shot in self-defense . The only witness at the time was his colleague Carlos, whose testimony saved him from prison. Lombard turned his back on Paris and has since worked as a private investigator in London . He is more difficult than quite afloat and has a relationship with the prostitute Nathalie, who, like him, comes from Paris. One day Lombard meets Carlos again, who has an assignment for him. The wealthy Jewish couple Mr. and Mrs. Spitz - Carlos is married to daughter Deborah - have been missing their son Leon for a month and commission Lombard to investigate. He accepts the case, which seems easy to solve. Leon is considered a drug addict.
Lombard's first inquiries lead to Emily, who turns out to be Leon's lover. She last saw him a month ago, too. At that time he brought the boy Shiva to her and asked her to take care of him. He also gave her a video cassette to keep. Leon was on the trail of the "Austrian" who is trafficking children and was able to free Shiva. On the cassette there are scenes in which Shiva is raped. Lombard lets Nathalie in on his research and she does research in her environment, pretending to be Lombard as a potential customer of the Austrian. She succeeds in establishing contact with the Austrian's customers. Lombard “orders” a boy from them, whom he puts into Emily's care after killing two of the three contact men. Although he calls Nathalie to warn her to get to safety, she is murdered by the child traffickers.
Lombard learned from one of the contacts that the Austrian's name was Friedman and that he was in a village in Mexico . Before he can leave for Mexico, the Spitz family asks him for an interview. Deborah, who has been stirring up the Lombard investigation since the beginning of the investigation, learned of the death of the drug lord in Paris and the subjective testimony of her husband. Because she does not believe Lombard is credible and thinks that he is just excluding her family, the Lombard family withdraws the case. He travels to Mexico on his own, where he can find Friedman. He is captured and mistreated by him and his men. Friedman admits to killing Leon. Lombard manages to get out and kill Friedman and his men. He then rescues the children on Friedman's farm. Back in London, he reports to the Spitz family about Leon's death. The family is shaken, but will give Lombard a rich settlement for his work and also take care of Shiva, whom Leon had saved.
Lombard suspects that he has not yet found the real man behind. He lets Emily leave a message on his answering machine asking for contact at her address, which is actually secretly tapped. During the night strangers appear at Emily's house, who is holed up with Lombard and the children in her house. One of the two men is Carlos, who is recognized by the boys as an Austrian. It was he who killed Leon and also killed Lombard's family. In the end, it is Shiva who kills Carlos; the second man is also killed.
The Jewish community celebrates the funeral service for Leon. Deborah goes to Lombard, who stops by briefly. She knew Carlos was involved, but not what. Lombard does not forgive her, because through her silence in the end she was also responsible for Nathalie's death.
production
The Lost Son was filmed in London and Felixstowe , Los Angeles and various locations in Arizona . The costumes were created by Rosie Hackett , the film construction was done by John Beard .
The Lost Son was released in French cinemas on April 21, 1999 and was also shown in British cinemas on June 25, 1999. In Germany it started on May 25, 2000. On December 4, 2000, the ZDF showed the film under the title Der Zorn des Jäger for the first time on German television.
Reviews
For film-dienst , The Lost Son was a “sensitively designed film that gets the tricky subject under control by inserting it into a classic and exciting detective story”. The film is getting off to a strong start for the Berliner Zeitung , with Menges "initially updating the existentialist aspect of the cinema detective, its being thrown, loving" and "staging [...] pretty miniatures about how one lives alone in the big city today, collecting evidence for Lombardy polite alienation ”, but it soon becomes apparent that the director“ cannot get his explosive topic under control. ”With the finale, in which Shiva exercises vigilante justice on Carlos,“ the film finally reveals its ultimately righteous intentions ”.
Web links
- The Lost Son in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Lost Son in the German dubbing file
Individual evidence
- ^ The Lost Son. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ Gerhard Midding: Alone in the big city . berliner-zeitung.de, May 25, 2000.