FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
THE MEMORY OF A KILLER
Belgium viewers of this crime thriller would have undoubtedly been reminded of serial killer Marc Dutroux.
The ringleader of an international child prostitution and pornography ring, Dutroux was convicted of
kidnapping, torturing and sexually abusing six girls, ages 8 to 19 (four of whom died), in the mid-'90s. The
flagrant negligence and incompetence of governmental officials and the police, who ignored a tip from an
informant and Dutroux's own mother, led to the reorganization of the country's law enforcement agencies.
Adding fuel to the media fire were rumors of Dutroux's involvement with a satanic network of pedophiles,
allegedly including members of the country's elite.
In the sock-'em opening sequence set in Antwerp in 1995, a police sting targeting child prostitution melts
down, leading to bloodshed. While in Marseilles, an aging hit man, Angelo Ledda (Jan Decleir), is coerced
into a lucrative assignment. Soon after Ledda's arrival in his native Antwerp, a prominent city politician
disappears, but when Ledda aims his gun at his next target, he's repelled - the victim-to-be is a
12-year-old girl. Turning the tables on his clients, he pursues his own crusade for justice. Ledda's a hit
man with honor. As the body count rises, detective Erik Vincke is always a few steps behind in figuring out
the big picture. (He was also one of the cops involved the film's initial ill-timed shootout). As played by
Koen De Bouw, a leaner, sad-eyed Antonio Banderas, Eric is the cat to Ledda's mouse.
Implausibly, Ledda jumps out of a window and tackles men half his age, while being in his mid-sixties and showing
early signs of Alzheimer's. As he's the only one holding all the pieces to the puzzle, he becomes a sitting duck for the
film's monstrous villain, Baron Gustave De Haeck, who originally hired Ledda to do his dirty work. He resides
in a formidable chateau fortress stuffed with Catholic iconography; he crosses himself after hearing an archrival has
been murdered. With a receding hairline, bespectacled, and a small chin, actor Jo De Meyere is a perfectly-cast
weasel. Even if clues are as glaring as a neon sign, the baron is so despicable the ending becomes compelling, and the
fact Ledda has made spent a lifetime killing people for hire eventually is overlooked. Let's hope that another import,
the taut and nerve-racking French cop drama, 36 Quai des Orfèvres, with Gérard Depardieu
and Daniel Auteuil no less, will finally see the light of day in the US. Kent Turner
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