Michael

There are films that are described as disturbing. This film is extraordinarily disturbing because it is all too possible. The premise of the film is that Michael lives on his own in Austria, works in Insurance, keeps a tidy house, commutes to and from work every day, goes skiing with friends and keeps a ten-year-old boy locked in his basement. Of course numerous cases spring to mind where this or something similar happened. What is still astonishing is how someone can appear to be such a normal member of society and commit such acts.


It is shown in the film that discipline, meticulous planning and compartmentalisation would need to be employed. The boy is kept in a very well ordered environment, there is soundproofing on the way down to the cellar, the room the boy is kept in is very well decorated; all evidence of his great planning. A work colleague shows up unannounced at Michael’s house and he can’t cope with this. This is maybe partly due to the fear of nearly being discovered and partly because he’s not used to her being there. At her presence he loses his temper and throws her out.

There is a voyeuristic fascination in seeing how he conducts himself in the home; this all too frequently turns to revulsion at every turn as to the activities Michael gets up to. The film does not attempt to play with your emotions at all. I think what it does is to attempt to give an insight into the whys of the situation and also as to what the implications might be. What really troubles me is the implication that stories like this are so common place and that things like this happen far too often.