Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall

Kim Wall (Journalist) and her Partner Ole Stobbe threw a formal farewell party to friends and family for their decision to move to Beijing on August 16th. Peter Madison is an outlandishly mouthy hyperactive scientist who seems to support an apathetic mental torpor. Nevertheless, he convinces Kim Wall to pay a visit to his hand-made miniature submarine named UC3 Nautilus. 2 people, Kim and Peter leave the docks for a test drive on August 11th, (5 days before Kim and her partner Ole's move to Beijing) with the sub at around 7:00 PM (local time). Only one person, Peter Madison, returns.

The bizarre story follows his arraignment and imprisonment. Then a stupendous escape ensues in the MacGyver style from the prison. Finally, his twisted personality turns the court system into a media circus. Albeit none of his efforts enable him to attain his freedom.

At last, in 2020, Peter Madison admitted to killing Kim Wall. The Netflix documentary undertakes this raw and crazy story in style. It is Choreographed elegantly and coherently, a well-told dramatic chronicle.

Exceptionally well made documentary on the disappearance and murder of an innocent journalist.

What starts out as a harmless interview and tour of a home made submarine with its owner, the story turns into one of mystery when only 1 person returns from what was supposed to be a short 2 hour tour out to sea.

The story of what happens is well told with the story flipping back and forth between interviews with different people so it keeps you guessing as to what actually happened. When the details finally came out I just sat there with my jaw on the floor asking why??

The details of what happened is nothing short of disturbing. The reason 'why' is as dark as it is evil.

I found this short 2-part documentary one of the best movies I've ever seen. It kept me guessing then knocked me out when it revealed the details of what occurred. The plot would make excellent material for a fictional, thriller movie - only this is true.

Highly recommend.

Is worth seeing. Good documentary, but kind of weirdly felt like there could have been more and less. The more would have been as some others noted (spouse, boyfriend, escape, etc.). For me, the less would be the interviews where different individuals contextualize the murder into other issue areas. Not sure those were very inciteful and detracted a bit from the telling of a very real human tragedy.

It's really gross and sad to see reviews of this documentary that say it would have been better and could have been covered in less time if there was less focus on Kim's life, who she was as a person, and the people who loved her. Not only is that disgusting, but it also willfully ignores the point of telling these stories and, in fact, the entire point of this documentary (a point which was clearly expressed several times throughout). The point of true crime stories shouldn't be solely focusing on the killer and the crime. These stories shouldn't make the killers a household name while only focusing on the victim for as long as it takes to describe the worst day of their life. These stories need to show the other side of things- the void left in people's lives and in the world now that this person has been taken out of it. We know too many "famous" killers' names and yet next to nothing about their victims. This documentary does an amazing job of balancing the story and the trial with the human impact of Kim's death. It's just really pitiful that folks don't seem to have enough attention span for both.

While the subject matter is fascinating and the focus on Kim Wall as opposed to the murderer admirable, this documentary was stretched to bizarre lengths... and I can't fathom why. This would've worked much better as an 80-minute doc, and literally no content would have to be cut; only the endless slo-mo transitions would have to be trimmed.

The length really hurts the storytelling, as I felt myself lulled into boredom on multiple occasions. The content should drive the length; not the editor's love for overlong transitions.