A good movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it did win the Golden Calf for the Best Dutch movie of the year, I was quite eager to check it out. First of all, to be honest, even though I was already living in the Netherlands at the time, I have to admit that I had never heard of the Deventer murder case (it’s only years later, when I really mastered the language, that I started to watch/follow the Dutch news). Eventually, I have to admit that I did struggle a bit to follow all the details (I saw it in Dutch without subtitles) but, anyway, it was still quite a fascinating story and I really appreciated the realistic and sober approach. In fact, it did remind me of ‘Making a Murderer’, in fact, the damned thing actually made me wonder if Steven Avery might have been guilty all along after all. Eventually, the only thing that did bother me was how they manipulated the viewers to feel one way or another about Michael de Jong depending of the needs of the plot. Indeed, during the first half, you didn’t get a single real scene with the guy but instead, some short bits during which he was always presented as a rather dubious ominous figure. Of course, you could argue that it was how he was perceived by the general public but this argument didn’t work since they also gave a few scenes involving de Jong at home and these scenes also always made sure he did look suspicious. But then, during the second half, when the media and especially Maurice de Hond started to become completely obsessed with his possible involvement in this murder case, they suddenly completely flipped how de Jong was displayed in this movie as he suddenly became a soft-spoken mild-mannered man and this switch was just jarring. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of this awkward and manipulative approach, it was still a really solid thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

7/10