Totgemacht - The Alzheimer Case

I saw this film at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival. Although based on a novel, this stylish police thriller's main conceit ("hit-man has Alzheimer's") could have been lifted from a Hollywood film executive's idea of "high concept". Except that it would have made a forgettable Hollywood picture. Instead, director Van Looy sets this story in his native Belgium. Police detectives Vincke and Verstuyft are like a modern day Starsky and Hutch, without the bad haircuts. Who knew that Antwerp even had police, never mind such cool ones? Their job is to track down the man who's killed several high-profile politicians and a young child prostitute.

Reminding me a lot of Terence Stamp in The Limey, veteran actor Jan Decleir portrays aging hitman Angelo Ledda, whose refusal to kill the young girl leads him to seek revenge on the people who want her dead. His deterioration is a cause for sympathy as well as a plot device. He must complete his "mission" before he forgets his reasons for carrying it out. He also plays a cat and mouse game with the police who are trying to solve the killings, staying one step ahead until he can no longer think clearly.

Van Looy admitted his fondness for "police thrillers with a soul" and especially for the work of Michael Mann, and the influence of Mann is everywhere. If you like Mann, you'll like this film. Well-developed characters, moody cinematography and fine acting didn't completely save this film, though. I thought the plot was a little too straightforward, and the film itself was about 20 minutes too long, with a couple of false endings that could have been re-cut. I think I would have given a shorter version of this film an 8, but even if it was a slightly derivative cop film, it was a slightly derivative cop film IN FLEMISH, which has to count for something!

(7/10)

I don't know what the problem is with Belgium. For some reason or another almost no-one seems to make movies over here. If you compare it to Spain or France (just to name two other European countries) the number of movies made over here really is awfully low. The directors always complain that they don't have the money to make big productions, that the country is too small for real success... Nonsense, a good movie doesn't have to cost all that much and can still have a lot of success as De Zaak Alzheimer (or the Alzheimer Case for the people who don't speak Dutch) proved.

The movie is based on a novel written by Jef Geeraerts, one of Belgium's best writers when it comes to crime novels. Having read several of his books, I can assure you that the man is a good observer who really knows what he's talking about. For instance the hatred and envy between the different police forces isn't just made up by the writer. Every Belgian can assure you that it is really a big problem sometimes.

The story is about a professional hit-man who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. He isn't able to remember any details, so he writes everything down on his arm. When he's hired to kill a 12 year old girl who was the victim of pedophiles, he doesn't do his job, but goes after the bad guys.

If a Spanish or French director made this movie, this would have been a huge success all over the world. Now the movie went by rather unnoticed. OK, here it was a huge success, but I'm sure that most people in other countries haven't heard of it before. Still this may well be called one of the best movies in Belgian history. It's true that it has a big American feeling, but that didn't bother me once and I heard that Hollywood is planning a remake of this movie, so Van Looy must have done something right. I give it an 8,5/10.

Having just watched Liam Neeson as the assassin with Alzheimer's and a conscince, I took a shot at the film upon it was based. The orignal is similar as far as the basic story goes but has a few differences, including a vastly different ending.

Jan Declair is excellent as the killer although Liam has more of a screen presence in the American movie.

The hitman is hired to off a series of bad men involved in a prostitution ring. Some of those involved are at the highest levels of society and corruption is rampant within the legal system.

The killer makes a decision not to kill a twelve year-old girl he has ben paid to hit.

The action is almost constant and I recommend both films.

Only a handful of Belgian movies haven't given me the feeling that they were produced locally and with a limited budget. This is one of them, not surprisingly because it was done with a larger budget than usual (but still quite small by Hollywood standards). I feel it has everything in place to rival any Hollywood production. The most important asset of the movie however is veteran actor Jan Decleir, a man who was already indirectly nominated a few times for the Oscars via the foreign movies section. Jan Decleir is brilliant and outclasses everyone else on the set (as he often does). The rest of the cast consists of good and not so good actors (some come from terrible Flemish soap series), but somehow everyone seems to rise above him/herself on this occasion and everyone deliver a decent performance. The photography, camera-work, everything's done quite professionally. The difference with many Hollywood action movies is the fact that the plot is quite good. The fact that the main character has Alzheimer's and that he has to use his ever shrinking mental capabilities to finish his quest, is an original twist. People will compare Alzheimer's to Memento, because of the main character's memory loss. But Memento was conceived to challenge viewers, to baffle them, to be perceived as intelligent and artistic. By contrast this movie is more down to Earth, more realistic and in the end simply something completely different. It's nothing more than an original cop-movie, good entertainment and certainly something I'd recommend, even to non Belgian or non-Dutch speaking viewers. Plans are underway for a Hollywood remake of this movie, so it must be other people have recognized its potential too. One word of caution though. Many people say the movie is a bit too long. That's a sentiment I share. At the end the plot loses a bit of its strength. But overall i'd label 'De zaak Alzheimer' a good movie.

I was surprised to read several negative comments on this site about "De Zaak Alzheimer". Some people seem to think that the movie wasn't worth the hype, but I disagree with this. I think this is the best Belgian cop thriller ever made. The story (based on the novel of Jef Geeraerts) is brilliantly written and the cast is outstanding. Our best Belgian actors give top performances. Jan Decleir, Koen De Bouw, Werner De Smedt and Jo De Meyere are wonderful.

When I would see an American movie who is similar to "De Zaak Alzheimer", I'd probably give it 8/10. What so special about "De Zaak Alzheimer"? It is a Belgian production, made with a limited budget and a cast and crew who doesn't have that much experience in making cop thrillers in an American style. So I'm convinced the movie is really worth the hype. Also that fact that the movie was nominated and won several awards in other countries, proves Erik Van Looy really made a good impression with his movie. I also heard they're negotiating for an American adaptation of the book, what also proves the value of the movie and the book.

A sequel? No, not a sequel but an adaptation of another book of Jef Geeraerts would be suitable. Erik Van Looy is also planning on doing this, but I read it is possible we will have to wait several years for this adaptation because the expectations will be high and Van Looy of course doesn't want to disappoint the audience.

To conclude my comment I can only repeat the fact that "De Zaak Alzheimer" is a great movie and I can't hardly wait to see the American adaptation (they talked about Morgan Freeman for one of the leading roles) and the next adaptation of a Jef Geeraerts-novel by Erik Van Looy.

9/10