Brian Hill: The Confessions of Thomas Quick

I morgen aften 20:45 skal jeg se dokumentarisk kriminalfilm på DR2 DOKUMANIA. Jeg ved ikke noget om den autentiske sag, ikke noget om instruktøren. Så jeg læser omtaler og anmeldelser fra filmens fremkomst og glæder mig:

TRUE CRIME-THRILLER

… The Confessions of Thomas Quick er en skandinavisk noir og en true crime-thriller, der udspiller sig i et net af mord og løgne. Men den er ikke en af den slags, hvor man ånder lettet op til sidst. Historien om den tragiske outsider Thomas Quick/Sture Bergvall er nemlig også en historie om, hvor let det er at lade sig rive med af folkestemninger og gruppepres – også internt i politiet og psykiatrien. Alle har deres egne motiver, men hvornår kan vi være sikre på, at det vi tror vi ved faktisk er rigtigt? (CPH:DOX)

RATHER SENTIONALIST FASHION

… British director Brian Hill (Climate of Change) relates the events of Bergwall’s life in rather sensationalist fashion, cutting between one-on-one interviews – including an extended talk with the “killer” himself – and stagy recreations that bring to mind TV shows like Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted. It’s not always the most subtle way to explain such a complex case, though the various interviewees help enlighten us on how a “perfect patient” like Quick/Bergwall made all his psychiatrists’ dreams come true, especially during reenactment therapy sessions where he fabricated gruesome childhood memories in order to justify his serial killer instincts. (The Hollywood Reporter / Jordan Mintzer)

RÅSTAM & KÜTTIM

… It was at this point that the story took an extraordinary turn. In 2008, journalist Hannes Råstam decided to re-examine the 50,000 pages of therapy notes, court documents and police interrogations relating to Bergwall’s convictions. In tandem with Jenny Küttim, then his assistant, Råstam came to the conclusion that there was no evidence for any of them aside from Bergwall’s own confessions, many of which had been made when he was taking high doses of the mind-altering tranquilliser benzodiazepine.

Råstam visited Bergwall at Säter, the psychiatric prison where he had been incarcerated since 1991 for an armed robbery, and confronted him. To his surprise, Bergwall broke down, admitting all his confessions were false.

Råstam published a bestselling book about the case in 2012 and within a year, to the huge embarrassment of the Swedish police, psychiatric establishment and judiciary, Bergwall was cleared of all the murders. The following year he was released after 23 years’ confinement. (The Telegraph / Julia Llewellyn Smith)

HELSTØBT HÅNDVÆRK

… Filmens skurke er disse kvinder med deres sektlignende dyrkelse af psykoanalysen, som meget problematisk bliver blandet sammen med politiefterforskningen, men man kan godt anklage filmen for at lade Sture Bergwall slippe for billigt.

I filmen bliver han i nutidig kontekst portrætteret som en hyggeonkel. Men ikke nok med, at onklen har begået voldelige og seksuelle overgreb mod unge drenge, han har også holdt ofrenes pårørende for nar. Og selv om han indrømmer dårlig samvittighed, kunne Brian Hill som erfaren dokumentarist godt være gået ham mere på klingen.

Men The Confessions of Thomas Quick er en fængslende antikrimi. Anti, fordi den ikke handler om at opklare mord, men dekonstruere de domme, som allerede er fældet. Og det bliver gjort med et helstøbt håndværk. (Ekko / Anders Højberg Kamp)

Brian Hill: The Confessions of Thomas Quick, UK, Sverige, 2015. 94 min.

STILL: Hannes Råstam og Jenny Küttim, journalisterne, som måske opklarede bekendelsernes bedrag.

http://cphdox.dk/program/film/?id=3148

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/confessions-thomas-quick-rome-review-835975

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/the-confessions-of-thomas-quick/sture-bergwall-serial-killer/

http://www.ekkofilm.dk/anmeldelser/confessions-thomas-quick/