La Mort portait la blouse

"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.

Truth may be stranger than fiction, but in the case of this documentary, it's an improvement. Serial killers have been a compelling subject for dramatization since Hitchcock's "Psycho," at least in American popular culture. But the fascination dates back to Jack the Ripper, and even farther back to the Middle Ages. This year it's Netflix's recent portrayal of the "good nurse" killer, a dismal excuse for biographical adaptation. It might have been worthwhile if it had offered new insight into horrible events, portrayed compelling emotions, or delved into human nature. The result could have been interesting, even entertaining, like a thriller. This documentary accomplishes all of this with no convoluted plot and contrived performances. The actual killer, Charles Cullen, is a far more chilling and impenetrable human being than the one portrayed by Eddie Redmayne. Cullen's matter-of-fact delivery as he explains the motivations that lead him to kill patients and his almost childlike self-possession are unnerving. Redmayne is a good actor, but his choice of intonation and nearly comatose performance failed to capture these real qualities. With straight-forward story telling and genuine emotion, this film imparts unimaginable horrors all the more frightening because they are so credible.

An interesting documentary, however there is far too much focus on how this main nurse who ended up helping capture this killer felt so sorry for him and kept saying what a great nurse this he was. Like she couldn't stop long enough to look at reality instead of bouncing back to what she thought was reality. She even has the nerve to put the responsibility on her 11-year-old daughter of whether or not she should help the investigation! Not a bad watch though, put together well by Netflix. What does strike me though, if I may say so, is that we never hear anything bad about hospitals even though they allowed this person, and others not really unlike him - this is not the first such story -- yet the Catholic Church is practically known for harboring the few pedophiles that eventually came to light. How ironic that people are so willing to vilify the church but not the hospital yet this crime was exceedingly worse than what the church did. Just food for thought.

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 read the Good Nurse five years ago and I consider it one of the best true crime books that I have ever read, and I have read well over three hundred of them.

Charles Cullen is the good nurse in question here. The lunatic worked at several hospitals and a nursing home, leaving a trail of death behind.

Finally, after fifteen years and a number of untimely and suspicious deaths, one courageous nurse voiced her feelings to a pair of tenacious detectives.

A Catholic priest was one of Chuckie's murder victims and after being exhumed, the good reverend had a high level of the heart medication Digoxin in his body.

The recordings of Cullen are riveting and I only wish that more of them had been used in the film.

I highly recommend both the book and the film.