Code 37

I've been a fan since series 1 and am now on series 3. Throughout I've been increasingly frustrated with the total disregard for standard police procedures. Flouting orders, abuse of suspects and recently, the unbelievable situation of a traumatised young girl being interviewed with no social services or trauma counsellor in sight. This total departure from any normal procedures, even allowing for dramatic license, seriously detracts from any enjoyment I had of the characters portrayed.

Code 37 is a film made with the ingredients of the television series. Hannah Maes is police officer section sexual crimes. She lives in her own world, because of something that happened when she was younger. She sometimes sees visions. Her mother was killed than. What exactly happened is still a question for her. Now she leads a team of 3 police men. Charles is the older one, Kevin the younger one and Bob's age is between the other two. The movie starts when a writer, Daniel Devucht, is seriously injured just outside a sex bar. The storyline features this story, although Hannah's visions become more and more obvious, until she finds the truth about her past. An exciting ending follows. Who is guilty in Hannah's case with the writer and who were the persons who killed her mother ?

Call me chauvinistic if you want, but I'm generally very proud of the fiction series that my country brings forward. Belgium particularly seems to specialize in crime/police series that are often extremely violent, but also benefit from quality scripts, terrific ensemble casts and suitable filming locations & decors. You have for example "Witse", "Zone Stad", "Aspe" and "Vermist". Each of them takes place in a famous big Belgian city (Antwerp, Bruges, Halle…) and has its own identifiable trademarks and gimmicks. "Code 37" is also such a successful series; set in Ghent and centering on a police unit that exclusively deals with sexual offenses. In order to launch the third and final season, the producers decided to surprise the audience with a long-feature motion picture released in theaters. The idea is definitely interesting, but also quite risky at the same time, since a film attracts new viewers that don't know anything about the characters' backgrounds and/or possible recurring themes from previous episodes. This is exactly what happens in "Code 37"… Throughout the first two – truly magnificent – seasons, the series loyally followed a specific pattern. Every episode revolved on one particular sex crime, but there was also the gradually unfolding mystery of lead protagonist Hannah Maes' private investigation and adolescent trauma. When she was a teenager, masked men invaded her home and brutally raped and killed her mother while she and her father were forced to watch. The crime was never solved and to this day Hannah is convinced that there's a convoluted conspiracy behind it. In the film, her investigation suddenly accelerates (to the point of nearly getting solved) but it must be completely incomprehensible for people that are new to the series. For example, I followed the series since the beginning – give or take a few episodes – but I watched the film with my girlfriend who never saw a "Code 37" episode before. I found myself providing her with additional feedback and background information on all the characters, so maybe it's not such a great idea to do a movie in the middle of a running show. Except of course if you don't want to attract viewers that weren't already familiar with it, but I can hardly imagine this is a successful marketing tactic.

That being said, I want to emphasize that I still very much like the concept of "Code 37", even though the script here is significantly weaker than most of the episodes in the previous seasons. In general, this is a truly uncompromising and often shockingly raw series with plausible character drawings (the cops as well as the villains/victims) and plentiful of graphic action and sex sequences. One of the main reasons why the series comes across as realistic is because that the players talk in their own dialect and slang, which is often crude and vulgar. The violence and nudity featuring in each and every single episode is definitely not for people with a weak stomach and the amount of it is truly copious. If this series would air on American television, for example, I doubt that the any of the footage would survive the editing/cutting room. Like in all Belgian crime/police series, the cast is stupendous and solely exists of familiar and hugely reliable names (in the Flemish part of Belgium, that is, of course). Lead actress Veerle Baetens is excellent as Hannah Maes. She's one tough and seemingly invulnerable bitch on the outside, insecure and sensitive on the inside. It's pure class how Baetens portrays these opposite emotions. Her team exists of two macho males (Michael Pas and Marc Lauwrys) and one nerdish rookie (Gilles De Schrijvere). The chemistry between the four leads is excellent. If you are interested in the format, please start from the beginning and NOT with the movie. The chronological order is: season one, season two, movie, season three.

'Code 37' is better known from its TV-series than from this film. Set as usual in the Belgian-Flemish city of Ghent, it provides reasonable crime-entertainment that keeps you watching throughout. The more so while its crime-plot is sexually charged, another trade-mark of the series.

Above all, this film 'Code 37' is very Belgian. Which means that its well-built story develops a little slower than you may be used to. And not as spectacular as you may expect. 'Code 37' deliberately emphasizes on normal, pretty recognizable people, doing their routine in everyday's circumstances.

In fact, the weakest part of this film is to be found in its shooting. Don't have yourself distracted by that, however, for 'Code 37' surely makes an entertaining watch.

First of all, i'd like to say that i haven't seen Code 37, the series. I just hope it's a lot better than this movie i've just watched. it starts out with Veerle Baetens who gets awarded for her courage for being a law enforcer. Then you see a guy in a sex theater getting a little hand-action, then he gets clobbered down and assaulted. The team of Hannah Maes (Veerle Baetens) jumps on this crime to investigate it. After a long and very slow while you find out everything you already knew. Its all pretty predictable. Just a typical cop-movie from Belgium with some feminine influences. Excuse me, ladies, but this movie has a little bit too much of emotion aspect for being a thriller. At the end you find out something of Hannah's past (that has probably been a big question mark in the series, but not important for the moviegoer) and that's about it. Case closed with some... emotion aspect. I think this could've been a very good movie, but with the lame red thread of hannah's life throughout the movie, the cliché-story and bad acting (sorry, Michael Pas is normally a fine actor, but he can't hold up his role) it just turned into a TV-movie that is not worth more credit than my rating. I must say that Veerle Baetens really does a genuine effort to keep up with her role and she plays it great, but she has bad luck with the scenario. Fabulous actress, bad movie.