The pluralistic ignorance within the climate of rigorous
social conformity in the post-war Soviet Union and East European communist
states often provides a grimly fascinating account of totalitarianism. Add a
notorious, elusive serial killer into the mix, the stagnation of bureaucracy
and inhumanity of the system perfectly crystallizes. Andrei Chikatilo, who
killed at least 52 people over fifteen years, stands as a fine representation
of the ‘Era of Stagnation’. For years, the serial killings weren’t publicized
since the superior officials believed that serial killing is a ‘western
phenomenon’. The utter lack of forensic techniques and man power was also a big
drawback. Eventually, the lead investigator Victor Burakov’s tenacity led to
the capture of Chikatilo. It was meticulously chronicled in Robert Cullen’s
non-fiction book The Killer Department (which was adapted into TV movie titled Citizen X). Bong Joon-ho’s fantastic thriller Memories of Murder (2003)
revolved around the hunt for a serial killer in a provincial town during the
times of political instability in Korean peninsula. Very recently, Polish crime drama I’m a Killer
(2016) dealt with similar sociopolitical themes set against the backdrop of
serial killings (the serial killer known as 'The Silesian
Vampire’ killed fourteen women between 1964 and early 1970s; the years leading
up to the Solidarity uprising and the end of Poland's Communist rule). Hungarian
film-maker Arpad Sopsits’ Strangled ('A martfui rem', 2016) is another curious dramatization of
the true story of a serial killer, set loose on women in a small town. The true
events took place between 1957 and 1967 and the investigators were under
immense pressure from the communist powers of the time.
It is 1957 and the authorities in the small provincial town
of Martfu couldn’t believe a woman is raped and killed in a place that is
dominated by a large shoe factory. It was the period of uprising, where the
demand for reforms within iron-hand Soviet establishment was instantly squashed. Hence
the police officials were also hell-bent on finding this perverted individual
in order to showcase the much publicized smooth flow of justice. The officials get their man –
Akos Reti (Gabor Jeszberenyi), a local shoe factory worker, who obsessively
loved the murdered woman. The movie opens with Akos Reti re-enacting the murder
for the gathered bureaucrats and reporters. But it soon becomes clear that the
man is wrongly accused. However, the determined state prosecutor Gabor Katona (Zsolt Trill), facing pressure from higher-ups sends the innocent man
to jail (first awarded death penalty which is later reduced to life sentence). He
defines his corrupted stance like this, “After the counter-revolution, the
regime had to prove the force of law and order …” Seven years later, the
murders resume with the same modus operandi. A young, ambitious prosecutor
Zoltan Szirmai (Peter Barnai) is sent to the town and he along with
a embittered local inspector named Bota (Zsolt Anger) puts the investigation in the
right track.
Nevertheless, Szirmai and Bota are repeatedly warned, since
in their hunt for serial-killer, they have to be careful to not expose the
flaws in Communist justice system. That may invite serious repercussions for
the Soviet state, which is held together by strict conformity. As expected one
regional party member decries, “There are no serial killers in this country”.
While Bota and Szirmai come under immense pressure to find the culprit (without
admitting the innocence of Akos Reti), government agents infiltrate the
investigation team to keep everything in line. Still the murders continue and
the narrative jumps to the perspective of uncaught serial-killer Pal Bognar
(Karoly Hadjuk), also a shoe factory worker. He gradually gets addicted to the
thrill of hunting down his victims, even though he wears a mask of normalcy in
front of his wife, kid, and fellow workers.
Strangled contains a peculiar tone as it tries to juggle
between different polarizing perspectives and different genres. Working
together with cinematographer Gabor Szabo, director Arpad Sopsits brilliantly
reconstructs the tension of the times in which these events took place. The formal qualities
are sound, especially the night-time chase scenes are effectively staged, partly reminding us of David
Fincher’s style. But the screenplay which tries to simultaneously move on three
planes (from the perspective of investigator, killer, and innocent man) doesn’t
intertwine very well. Sopsits’ unflinching showcase of sexualized male violence
against women during the assault scenes wants to draw upon the narrative’s
potent theme of authoritarian rule’s toxic effects. These scenes hang in
between lurid sensationalism and truly unsettling tone. The violence does seem
overindulgent when the murderer cuts off a woman’s breasts. Earlier, we witness
killer’s manic emotions as he engages himself in the gruesome cut, but these constant
lingering on mutilation feel a lot exploitative and gory just for the sake of
it. The narrative intertwining of the various character trajectories are also saturated
with cliched developments (the subplot involving inspector Bota and Akos Reti’s
sister is one such thing). In fact, the generic conventions and visceral
thrills calmly replace the movie’s ability to be an unsettling character study
of a serial killer. In the end, Strangled’s (121 minutes) examination of the
historic backdrop and debauched political arena is less memorable than the
shocking violence and chilling nocturnal sequences played out on the screen. It
doesn’t belong to the league of great true-crime serial killer films like
Zodiac and Memories of Murder, yet it’s a gripping film with vibrant
performances.
Trailer
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