Year: 2011 Not Rated Genre: Captive, Thriller Language: German Runtime: 1:34:00 Director: Markus Schleinzer ☆☆ Main Cast: Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger, Ursula Strauss
Notable Mentions: Schleinzer's Direction and Screenplay
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Natascha Kampusch is an Austrian author and talkshow host. On March 2, 1998, when Natascha was 10 years old, she was kidnapped. For the next 8 years, she was held captive until her escape on August 23, 2006.
Michael, the film, is not about Natascha. Michael is about a seemingly ordinary man named Michael, who is secretly holding a 10-year old boy captive in his basement. The film's likely inspired by Natascha's story.
When I first began curating this list, I watched a lot of Oscar winning and nominated films. Those got boring really fast. I noticed there's more diversity in films that were showcased at the Cannes Film Festival. I came across Michael on Tubi. A quick search revealed that the film was considered for Palme d'Or at the 64th Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best Feature Film at the 2nd Austrian Film Awards. I decided to give the film a shot.
Why was this film made? It can't be for entertainment. Will someone who's been through a similar horrific event find healing in watching this film? I don't think so. Is it for awareness? I don't know what bringing attention to this terrible thing will achieve. What I do know is we shouldn't avoid a truth just because it's ugly. The first step to solve a problem is to acknowledge that there is a problem. So I guess yes. It's for awareness.
I don't know how to describe the sadness I felt watching this film. The scenes where the boy writes and packages a letter in the dark, where he cries in his bed, where the man lies to the boy that his parents don't want him anymore and that he should stop writing to them and many more; they broke me. I felt the boy's loneliness and hopelessness. And I too felt hopeless, witnessing this heinous crime occurring right before my eyes and there was nothing I could do to help this fictional character.
And the worrying. When the boy was sick, the man got into a car accident and was hospitalized. And when the man finally died. Both times, Schleinzer dragged on the scenes following the incidences to create anxiety. The longer the time passed before showing the boy, the more I worried. Both times, I couldn't stop thinking if there's enough food for the boy to hold over until the man returns, until someone finally discovers the boy. When the man was hospitalized, I hated that I hoped for his quick discharge. I hated that he was the only person we, the audience, could rely on to keep the boy alive.
Michael and Ich Seh, Ich Seh are both Austrian films. They are similar in style. The one other Austrian film I've watched is Einer Von Uns, which too was crafted with the same style. I find that very interesting. Maybe that's the style of Austrian cinema.
All in all, Michael is not a movie night kind of film. It's not a film that you enjoy with a group of people. Mentally prepare yourself before you watch.
