La captura del enfermero asesino

The killer nurse, Cullen, like Dr. Death, Duntsch, was enabled by a medical system more concerned with profit than upholding morality. Just as Duntsch did, Cullen was passed down from one hospital to another like a sexually transmitted disease to continue his appetite for killing patients. The two murderers were apprehended and convicted ten years apart, so it is apparent that the medical system did not learn their lesson.

The documentary could have delved more into Cullen's early life. Tape recordings of the man himself described a boy who was petrified by the loss of safety resulting from the death of his mother, his only protector. No clue was given as to what or whom he feared. But this terror became the seed out of which grew a sociopathic killer.

Cullen claimed that he could not bear witnessing the suffering of the patients and therefore killed them out of mercy. Yet these patients were on the mend and not terminally ill when he brought forward their demise. It was never about the patients and everything to do with his own inner anguish. He projected his suffering onto them and symbolically vanquished it by ending their lives.

It's difficult to tell just how accurate this documentary is. I take it that it's pretty accurate, since the original people were involved and most did not try to hide their shame at being unwittingly involved with this man's murders.

What's missing though is more in-depth information about his childhood, his psychological motivations, or other things that makes criminal pathology a fascinating field. His motivation is so meagerly discussed it's almost non-existent. Anyone trying to get into the mind of the killer will be disappointed here.

What I am most shocked at is that criminal investigations were not brought against the hospitals and administrators that suspected (ie knew) this was going on and just passed him on to other hospitals. They would seem as responsible for those deaths as the murderer, yet not a one of them has been brought to trail? That is so unthinkable that it galls.

All in all a reasonable documentary, but it leaves quite a bit out that would have made the rather slow-moving commentary more interesting and informative. We know the story, but little about the "why" (other than the killer was seriously warped, of course). The fact that his murders were at times random was an indication there was far more going on here than basic mercy killings. The documentary would have done well to delve deeper into the psychology and motivation of that part of this story.

"Capturing the Killer Nurse" is the kind of documentary you watch with a bucket of popcorn, only to realize halfway through that maybe popcorn wasn't the right choice for a film about a nurse who's less about the TLC and more about the R. I. P. It's an okay watch-think of it as a true crime podcast but with visuals, so you no longer have to imagine what everyone looks like. The documentary does a commendable job of laying out the timeline and facts, like a Wikipedia article with a budget for dramatic reenactments and suspenseful music scores.

However, the film struggles to find its unique voice in the crowded room of true crime documentaries. It's like going to a costume party and finding out three other people wore the same "Killer Nurse" outfit. You appreciate the effort, but wish there was a bit more originality in the presentation. The interviews, reconstructions, and archival footage are all well and good, but they never quite elevate the material beyond the expected tropes. It's akin to a chef meticulously recreating a classic dish but forgetting that secret ingredient that makes you say, "Wow, I need the recipe!"

In the end, "Capturing the Killer Nurse" earns a solid 3.5 stars. It's the documentary equivalent of a B-minus student: reliable, does what's expected, but won't particularly astonish you with new insights or methods. You'll walk away informed, perhaps a little entertained, but unlikely to rush to your friends to discuss it. It's the perfect background noise for folding laundry or scrolling through your phone-capable of capturing your attention in brief spurts, but not guilty of stealing your entire evening.

The story is interesting. And it is imperative that people understand that we now have another "blue wall of silence" covering up corruption and illegal behavior by the institutions. We had the police blue wall of silence and now we have the medical one too. As it is true in the US as it is definitely true in the UK and that leads me to believe it is EVERYWHERE.

That being said this 1:30h documentary could've been done in 45min. I mean keeping all the info mentioned which some reviewers even complained the info wasn't enough. But this thing is soooooo slow, with several intervals of repetitive music, several empty scenes, and how they move the picture on a drawn timeline while slowing down on every date so u can read it and keeps going back 20 years. Every single time the timeline is shown it's done in the same manner. Going over every date of employment u think ok they're talking about this era. Nope keep waiting.

Even limited series documentaries aren't that slow. The only documentary I watched that was worse than this was the Dennis nilsen one where the whole thing is the view of a tape recorder and narration. Not even background scenes or photos or maps or anything. Extremely lazy. Like watching paint dry. Literally.

These directors and editors need to understand that stretching scenes to get the docu to last longer than hour is easily noticeable by the viewer and it puts ppl off and lowers the rating. But I think all that happens after they all get paid so who cares right? Smh.

I watched this having watched the film in which Eddie Redmayne started as Charles Cullen.

I'm glad I did it this way round, so many things I found hard to believe in the film, were actually true, the film wasn't sensationalised, it seemed to stick quite rigidly to the content.

What a documentary should be, thought provoking, dramatic, revealing, and a little bit shocking, some parts of it were actually hard to fathom, that is one messed up system.

Amy Loughren's thoughts were astonishing the whole way through, once again, I'm speechless at how rotten the establishment was, how many lives could have been saved.

One thing the film didn't really get into was Cullen's motivation, you will actually hear that in his own words here, the interview sequences were astonishing I thought. What a curious guy, I'd like to see more on him, to try and understand him a little better, he's impossible to piece together.

8/10.