An Officer and a Murderer

The title says it all. There's no mystery here in who's doing it, breaking into houses stealing underwear and dildos, at the same time as he is living a perfect life and is just appointed the main boss at an important military establishment.

The mystery is how a well respected man can be such an offender. Well, he's not the first, and will not be the last, seemingly living a perfect life, but not able to control his sick sexual urges.

This Canadian movie, directed by Norma Bailey has Gary Cole in the main role, and he is doing a great job as always. As is the rest of the cast, though that's not a shock, as Canadians are very good at making films with true and realistic acting.

Well worth a watch!

All actors did a great job except Rossif Sutherland, who was robotic, very low energy, and just was totally unbelievable in the role. Unfortunately, he was a main character. Laura Harris, Gary Cole, and Catherine Disher put in superb performances.

I would have given it a higher rating except for the casting of Rossif Sutherland. This isn't the first time that Gary Cole has played the murderer in TV movie. He was great as Captain Jeffrey MacDonald in "Fatal Vision", which was another true to life multiple murder TV movie. Laura Harris was very believable in her role as was Catherine Disher.

There weren't any surprises in the movie, but as someone from the U. S. who had just heard a few details in the media when he was arrested, it was informative. The movie just focused on the crimes he was arrested for and didn't really go into much detail about his background nor did they focus on any personal relationships he had outside of his wife. It could have been improved if they had shown him in other personal relationships, but I'm guessing due to time constraints they limited what was included.

This film is based on a real story that happened in Canada.I enjoyed very much the story: with a lot a patience the detectives try to make a profile of a man who began stealing lingerie then killing women.And the most interesting is that the main suspect is an very important officer , commander of the military base of Trenton. The performances of Gary Cole, Laura Harris and Rossif Sutherland are very good.

This is a the story of the Canadian Base Commander, Colonel Russel William in Southern Ontario, who first started collecting panties and bras in home break-ins, then advancing to holding woman hostage for his amusement, and then graduating to rape and finally murder. And yes, Lifetime presents us with yet another white male gone bad movie of the week.

The main point of the story is that Commander Williams, is beyond reproach or even consideration as an unsub. He is even enlisted to help in the search and of course blames the crimes on some wood chucker (tree trimmer) who is a blue collar guy and the cops love him as a suspect because he looks like a suspect. They do not even consider the ramrod "correct" military commander as he is beyond suspicion. Ah, but those blue collar guys...they must have done it.

Frankly, the movie showed how cops usually pick the wrong suspect but in this case luck out by finding tire tracks. One of the lady cops,from Toronto, checks on a possible victim, Jessica, only to miss the SUV parked nearby and is remorse she didn't get the plate number. Why should she? The tree trimmer is safely locked up. Lucky tho the Commander screws up and leaves some tire tracks, which almost did not get reported because he is the Canadian Base "commander". Respect his au THOR EH Tee.

The base commander, played by Gary Cole and the cop played by Rossif Sutherland really have great nuanced performances. And the interrogation is more realistic than the "badgering cop" style so often depicted on TV.

Where is the psychologist talking about fetish clothing and personification of the victim through clothing while acting out erotic fantasies? Guess he/she was on vacation.

The pacing was good and the story told in a straight forward manner, and hard to believe it is an American film as it has "Made in Canada" stamped all over it as there is little action. Where are the police waving guns around, guns pointed at people, guns being fired, CSI special effects, more gun totting, cops yelling "get down on the ground" at the top of their lungs after they have consumed a dozen cans of Red Bull. Where is David Caruso pointing a gun at the suspect? Not here.

This movie does take an analytic how-it-happened approach which simply tells the story. It reminds me more of Columbo or Monk episodes than police "action" dramas.

Lifetime follows the movie up with a documentary, which is pretty much the movie without actors. An easy 3 hrs for Lifetime programming, but worth a view. When the ads say 'based on a true story' there will be little action, but a re-telling of events, hopefully as interesting as this movie. Thumbs up. It kept me home on a Saturdy night.

Gary Cole's understated portrayal of a psychopathic alter-ego taking control of the daily ego is relentless, disturbing, and masterful. This (along with the fact that it's based on actual events) makes this movie worth viewing. Cole does not go all dramatic and tear up the scenery. In fact his *persona* (his personality mask) remains the same throughout his changes -- meticulous, thorough, rigid, controlling, polite. It's his soul that darkens and falls into this demonic abyss. Cole somehow communicates this transformation and makes us believe him (to our horror).

It should be noted that the the police characters are all fictional, and they even seem fictional in the way they are portrayed. But for those of us who wondered how a "Base Commander" on a Canadian Armed Forces base could possible lead such a double life and be one person, Cole makes us see -- not comprehend but accept.