Cold Case Hammarskjöld

Documentary phenomenon. A Danish journalist embarks on an investigation of the strange circumstances of the death of a former secretary general of the United Nations. In doing so, he encounters a devilish plan that is reminiscent of a second-rate horror movie, including secret laboratories in the African jungle, assassinations and “vaccines” with HIV. The uncovering of a vast conspiratorial network, in which the CIA, several European countries and multinational corporations are clearly involved and which may have had a major impact on the state of contemporary Africa, is framed by director Mads Brügger's attempt to give the narrative some kind of consistent form. That appears to be impossible, however, due to the large number of unreliable witnesses (of which there are many more than credible materials). In parallel with the gripping detective work that uncovers the conspiracy, we also see the journalist’s growing frustration with the fact that the truth continues to elude him and his original attempt to cope with the impossibility of separating fact from fiction by, on the one hand, continuously reflecting on what he has (not) discovered and, on the other hand, through animated sequences, which are admittedly unreliable reconstructions. If you enjoy highly complex spy thrillers with dozens of intricately connected characters in which understanding of the complex structure and links between the individual involved parties is of greater importance than clear and definitive conclusions, you will, like me, hold your breath for two hours. 90% (18.08.2019)

Perfect argument fodder against people who dismiss documentaries like this on the grounds that if they had come up with something interesting and important, we'd already know about it from other sources. The search for a deranged continent where the most powerful data is hidden in pencil somewhere under the floorboards of a Johannesburg slum is aided by an equally deranged protagonist whose method of working with witnesses makes me wonder if it bore any fruit. On the one hand, when, with his colonial hat and a cigarette in his mouth, he searches with his detector for buried plane wreckage, only to grab a spade after successfully locating it, kick it four times and find he's had enough, he pretty much fits right into the chaos. However, as is later revealed to us, the protagonist of the story is the quiet detective Göran, who, on the strength of an inherited iron plate supposedly belonging to the crashed plane, has dedicated his life to wandering Africa in an attempt to find evidence of the existence and activities of the paramilitary organization SAIRM, and now sails like the Flying Dutchman upstream on the Congo in search of secret laboratories that allegedly spread AIDS through vaccines to cleanse the continent of the black race. The scene where he shows the shot-up airplane panel to random students on the subway on the way to the FBI and explains to them why it's so important is one of the most moving moments I've seen in a documentary. (20.01.2020)