Review by ammeke

At the very moment his father is walking towards the courtroom to be judged in what is called THE Belgian corruption scandal of the last decade, director Willem Wallyn sends an actor along with him in the role of himself. This is the start of a remarkable debut long play movie about the media as a powerful tool to make or destroy peoples lives. The trial itself, which took place in December 1998, is further only the setting of the story in which Willem Wallyn (played by Peter Van Den Begin) is taking revenge for being threatened by a television journalist (played by Herbert Flack) who wants to get to the so-called "juicy" details of his fathers involvement in the corruption scandal. Although this could be the start of a rather boring Hollywood story about good and bad, it is not the case. We get a quite balanced picture of the two main characters : a television journalist who is squeezed between "good manners" and his own weakness for fame; and the son, a lawyer, who justifies his behavior by seeming to defend the honor of this father but who is at the same time very anxious about his personal success. The story is further designed in a very grasping way: little explaining but lively dialogues and a lot of good use of visual and audible effects which create the right aggressive and grim atmosphere of the world of media and lawyers. Congratulations !