Dead - The Alzheimer's Case

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Movie
German title Dead - The Alzheimer's Case
Original title De Zaak Alzheimer's
Country of production Belgium
original language Dutch
Publishing year 2003
length 123 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Erik Van Looy
script Erik Van Looy,
Carl Joos
production Erwin Provoost ,
Hilde De Laere
music Stephen Warbeck
camera Danny Elsen,
Jo Vermaercke
cut Philippe Ravoet ,
Yoohan Leyssens
occupation

Totmachen - The Alzheimer Case (German DVD title: Lost Memory - Killer without reminder and The Alzheimer Case - totmachen , German TV title: Murderer without memory , original title: De Zaak Alzheimer ) is a film by the director Erik Van Looy and came in 2003 in Belgium in the cinemas. The main role was played by the Belgian actor Jan Decleir .

action

Antwerp location

The killer Angelo Ledda is hired by the Belgian ex-minister Baron de Haeck to commit two crimes in Antwerp in 1995: the head of the city's construction department is to be eliminated and a 12-year-old girl is to be killed as an incriminating witness in a child pornography ring. When the otherwise unscrupulous Angelo Ledda, who has traveled from Marseille, realizes that he has been put on a child, he goes in search of his clients. Ledda suffers from a rapidly accelerating form of Alzheimer's and is dependent on medication. For him now begins a double race - against his own progressive memory lapses and against the work of a police team that is on his trail.

The investigations of the criminal police under the direction of the integrity commissioner Eric Vincke and his colleague Freddy Verstuyft are made more difficult by disputes with the incompetent departments of other authorities, especially the gendarmerie . She is interested in Ledda herself, as he shot a gendarme while he was on the run.

Ledda gradually kills his clients, including the baron's son, and sends the police video material that proves involvement in the child pornography ring. When Ledda finally penetrates the villa of the baron, who is now under police protection, and tries to murder him too, he is arrested by the gendarmerie. He declares that he wants to cooperate with the police and betray his clients. A conversation is said to have been recorded on a cassette in his possession, whose hiding place he allegedly forgot, which clearly proves de Haeck's guilt.

De Haeck, who u. a. also has the public prosecutor on his side, thereupon blackmailed the forensic psychiatrist he was friends with and forced him to poison Ledda, who was meanwhile being treated in a clinic. The attempted murder fails, however, whereupon Ledda escapes with the psychiatrist as a hostage. He demands a getaway car to exchange for the hostage. During the bogus exchange, the psychiatrist is accidentally shot by a police sniper. However, Ledda gets into the escape car that has been provided, in which Vincke and Verstuyft are, who are now themselves hostages. Ledda gives you a tip about the location of the cassette; then he leaves the vehicle again and is shot by the gendarmerie. The tape is finally found and the baron is arrested.

Reviews

“De Zaak Alzheimer” was shot with a budget of 2.5 million euros for Belgium and in 2003 it was a great success at the box offices in Belgium. The film was seen over 610,000 times in Belgian cinemas.

The film critics praised Jan Decleir's intense and safe play in the lead role. Film critic Roger Ebert only considered Gene Hackman , Morgan Freeman or Robert Mitchum ("if he was still alive") to be appropriate in connection with the planned US remake as the American counterpart to Jan Decleir . The story was compared to the police novels by Sjöwall / Wahlöö and director Erik Van Looy managed to capture a lot of atmosphere. Filmbessprechungen.de wrote: "Despite small weaknesses (...) a real insider tip, a recommendation for fans of demanding thrillers."

The Dutch online magazine cinema.nl compared the film with Michael Mann's Heat , David Fincher's Se7en or Christopher Nolan's Memento .

Only in the assessment of the cut effects did the criticism disagree.

Awards

"De Zaak Alzheimer" won 2004 a. a. the Joseph Plateau Prize (the “Belgian Oscar”) in the four categories of Best Actor , Best Director , Best Film , Best Screenplay and was submitted by Belgium as a candidate for an Oscar nomination in the category of Best Foreign Language Film , but was not submitted nominated.

Publications

In Germany, the film was released in 2004 by Tiberius Film / Sunfilm on DVD under the title "Dead Made - The Alzheimer's Case". In 2005 the title was changed to "Lost Memory - Killer Without Memory". The DVD edition of TV Movie magazine included the film with some bonus material in its 17/2007 issue.

Others

Despite a great success with film critics and audiences in the home country, the film was only released on DVD in Germany. It is based on the 1985 novel De Zaak Alzheimer by Jef Geeraerts and on events in recent Belgian history .

swell

  1. ^ Certificate of Approval for Deadly - The Alzheimer Case . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2004 (PDF; test number: 98 519 V / DVD).
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ↑ [2]
  4. ↑ Lumiere - Database of movie attendance figures in Europe
  5. ^ Chicago Sun Times: The Memory of a Killer
  6. ↑ Filmbessprechungen.de : dead made - The Alzheimer Case ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Cinema.nl: IJskoude killer in stijlvol en staalblauw Vlaanderen
  8. ^ San Francisco Chronicle: He has a deadly job to do - as far as he can recall

Web links