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Narrative
Two girls disappeared
Police recruit Paul Chartier joins an undercover unit tracking a sex offender. After the operation fails, Chartier pursues the perpetrators independently, frustrated by legal restrictions. Mentioned in Close-Up: Why Do We Need a Venice Film Festival? (2024).
This failure led to a thorough reorganization of law enforcement agencies
In “Maldoror,” director Fabrice du Welz explores one of the darkest pages of Belgium’s recent history. The fact that local police forces and criminal investigators barely cooperated during the investigation may have cost the girls their lives. The film tells the story from the perspective of police officer Paul Charlier, who searched the basement where the girls were hiding. He heard them whispering, but couldn’t find them due to a limited search warrant.
Charlier knows he is right, but his superiors have other priorities
These events actually happened, but Du Welz mixes fact and fiction in his film. He portrays the policeman as a typical street cop who prioritizes his feelings over rules and procedures. Ultimately, his persistence and lack of respect for authority 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’s determined to be ‘on the right side’, but it’s important to him to hunt down criminals. If rules and regulations stand in his way, he ignores them. The desolate industrial wasteland of Charleroi, where the kidnappings took place, is used to its fullest.
However, some of the events are clearly fictional
The bleak atmosphere is also enhanced by the hopelessness of the city, where illegal activities seem to thrive. The film documents an important part of Belgian history and is an interesting interpretation for those who followed the events of the time. In order to create an exciting police thriller with political elements, the film abandoned historical accuracy.
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