The Beast

A difficult film to sit through due to the subject matter it handles pedophilia, incest, assault, and murder, the Treatment is as hard-hitting as it can get. It's best visualized as four episodes with intertwining characters and storylines - a) Inspector Cafmeyer's personal tragedy where his brother supposedly gets abducted by a next-door-pedophile, the fact that he's not been found, and how it haunts him 25 years later. b) The horrific Simons family incident where someone tortures them for days, abducts the couple's young boy and leaves him bitten & murdered in a park. c) A repeat of the earlier mentioned event for another family in the neighborhood. d) The big reveal & the finale.

Geert Van Rampelberg is stupendous as the emotionally broken but smart investigator Cafmeyer, who has to hold himself together as cases echoing his brother's disappearance start to pile up. The unraveling of clues is where The Treatment solidly delivers, some having connections to past events and some requiring a forensic elucidation. While I expected this film to go the typical serial-killer route, it both held my attention and made me fleetingly look away as the case(s) started delving deeper into an underground pedophile ring.

The Treatment is the kind of film where bodily fluids (of its helpless victims) can be sensed from afar. The graphic nature of the film lies rooted in its emotional weights, not the blood-letting. The tension is sustained well, and in fact, lingers in your mind long after the credits start to roll.

One of the best and most intense movies I have seen in a long time.

Martyrs (2008) comes to mind but this is much less gory and more psychological but probably as many twists and turns. Funny Games (1997) and its excellent remake also come to mind. The story develops gracefully, which is an odd word to use for a movie like this but I think the writing, the acting and the pace developed a flow that kept me along for the ride the entire time. It kept me guessing and thinking and I love movies that can do that for me. It is very disturbing subject matter so be warned. Not everyone will like this or even be able to watch it. It is not "literally" graphic but it is very emotionally graphic. I would like to only recommend this movie to those who enjoy dark films but this is such a well made movie I feel it deserves a larger audience. Just great cinema if you can challenge yourself to get past the subject matter. Strap in and go along for the ride. For me, it was one of those movies that I literally said "WOW" when the credits rolled.

Some films get a "free pass" i.e. an IMDb rating of 7 or higher (which makes the film a must-watch) because of their subject matter. Any film which deals with difficult subject matter such as child abduction, molestation etc. will automatically pull at the heart strings so you can't really go wrong with them in terms of audience investment in the characters and the story.

Yes, this film is worth watching because you will of course be emotionally impacted (unless you have no feelings) but I've rated the film a 6 based on the merits of the production and writing etc. The film definitely has Hollywood's production quality and the main actors are charismatic if a little hollow.

My main gripe(s) with this film are: movie realism. It is an accepted fact that police officers ALWAYS go off the deep end and break ALL the rules to solve crimes and hell, normal people would too! If I were confronting a paedophile and trying to get information, they'd at least lose a few fingers before I would give up - what the hell is this guy doing? There are so many scenes where you're expecting the lead guy to do something above and beyond to get what he needs but he doesn't and it's so frustrating! and unbelievable! Not just in movie land but in the real world too! Frankly, this guy's police work and deduction skills are appalling (not the actor's fault of course). There was one particular word which connected things but it made no sense that ALL the kids would be using the same word... why?! Did the guy have this word tattooed on his forehead or something??

Too many times I had to go 'urgh, as if' at the screen and the ending was infuriating. ¡It's not exactly Fort Knox though is it!

So it's worth watching just because of the subject matter... except it's not is it? Because the subject matter is revolting.

Truth be told, up until things started to get ridiculous, I would have recommended watching this film but now that I've seen the whole thing, I'm not going to. I still give it a 6 for the production quality and the acting and the (unfortunately) emotional storyline but take the latter out and it's just a glossy Hollywood type film with a lot of flaws in the story telling.

6/10

I first saw this in 2015 on a dvd. I am writing a review now without revisiting it.

The movie is very very distressing n doesn't require a second viewing.

I hate movies which depict violence towards kids and i can't even stand horror movies where they show onscreen kiddies' death scenes.

The only reason i am generous with the ratings cos it is a very well made film, specially the police investigation n its aided by a top notch acting by the lead actor.

The lead guy is so emotionally exposed on screen that we audiences also feel his turmoil.

The flashback story is poignant with a harrowing n ambiguous ending while the main story is very dark n distressing.

The only time i felt good n did phew was the scene where the lead cop keeps punching the pervert's face.

This movie will remind 8 mm, Prisoners, Bereavement.

The Treatment is a psychologically intense mystery-thriller directed by Hans Herbot. Unusually, it's a Belgian adaption of a British crime novel. Although it is from the Low Countries, it follows very much in the style of Scandinavian noir. It's a pretty uncompromisingly bleak, tense and very dark story that focuses on very troubling subject matter. A police detective is still haunted by the unsolved disappearance of his brother who was suspected of being a victim of a local paedophile. He is thrust into the middle of a new case involving another child abuser whose modus operandi is house invasions of families with a mother, father and young boy. He inflicts particularly horrible perverted actions on his victims, the detective wonders seriously if both stories are linked in some way.

It's quite rare for a film, far less a thriller, to focus on the very unpleasant subject matter of child abuse and paedophiles. The Treatment, therefore, walks a very fine line between being explicit yet stopping short of being exploitative. It's a path that it navigates very successfully though, for this is certainly a disturbing movie that shows enough to make the viewer very uncomfortable, yet knows how to do this without going too far. The mystery itself is layered and deep and draws you in further and further. Things are slowly revealed in sometimes unexpected ways. It wouldn't be right to reveal too much about the plot here, as the best way to approach this one is with as little prior knowledge as possible. It's helped considerably by some very strong acting, in some roles that could not have been easy and would have required some real skill. It is not a film that is going to be for everyone though, as despite the careful treatment it is still very grim stuff on the whole. But for those who like dark thrillers and especially ones who appreciate the northern European variety, this is a keeper.