Michael

2011 [GERMAN]

Drama / Thriller

Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 80% · 40 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 67% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.9/10 10 5325 5.3K

kidnapping cellar young boy pedophile child kidnapping

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Plot summary

Although to the outside world he seems like the a perfectly normal insurance broker, Michael secretly keeps a 10-year-old boy, Wolfgang locked in a room in his soundproof basement.

Director

Markus Schleinzer Photo
Markus Schleinzer

Top cast

Gisela Salcher Photo
Gisela Salcher as Christa
Victor Tremmel Photo
Victor Tremmel as Schwager
Tiby Photo
Tiby as The chimpanzee
Roland Trnka Photo
Roland Trnka as Passerby

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Froster54 8 / 10

Yikes

First let's say it, "Yikes". This is a minutely-observed, low-keyed, dispassionate movie about the domestic life of a pedophile and the little boy he keeps captive in his basement. (Again, "Yikes"). But it is certainly not without wit, and a kind of wry "fly on the wall" style that keeps one engaged even though the proceedings are kept on a low boil intentionally. (Thank God). The phrase "the banality of evil", comes to mind constantly, and I think it is not entirely coincidental that this is an Austrian film. The lack of histrionics, however, does not mean that the film lacks drama. Certainly not…in fact it does create , at times, an almost unbearable tension. It has been compared many times to Haneke's "Funny Games", but in fact I find it far more subversive than that, as the Haneke film depends very much on a Brechtian "alienation" effect, whereby the filmmaker lets his audience know that he is intentionally manipulating them. "Michael" provides no easy "outs", and is, to my mind, a far more disturbing, compelling exercise. Truly a shocker, and extraordinarily well-done. Bravo. (But it is not for the timid).
Reviewed by rioplaydrum 8 / 10

Brilliant and heartbreaking

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