Public Enemy DVD review

Public Enemy (15) Nordic Noir and Beyond (FCD1553)

Recently aired on Sky TV, this new, ten episode Belgian series stages a tight, unnerving and gripping Low Countries Noir for our times. Taking on the eternal subjects of crime and punishment, testing our preconceptions, prejudices and tolerances to the limit, Public Enemy is a slow burning, blame-ridden, pot boiler of mixed emotions, high minded contemplation and low cunning in the hauntingly beautiful setting of the Belgian countryside.

The arrival of a long term prisoner, Guy Beranger (Angelo Bison) a convicted child killer, causes ructions with the local people. On parole but free only in the precincts of a monastery of a small Belgian town, Beranger arrives as a fully-formed folk devil, with little prospect of redeeming himself in the locals’ eyes. The plan to attract more business to the town is threatened by his presence, and a young monk’s plan to reform the man meet with much opposition, even within his monastery. Beranger arrives with Police protection, in the form of an officer from Brussels, Chloe Muller (Stephanie Blanchoud), who opts to stay at the monastery, to be close to Beranger. That Chloe has a tragic history is obvious from the start, with regular flashbacks to her childhood, attempting to escape the clutches of an abusive adult with her younger sister, Jessica. Hiding in a vertiginous watch tower, young Chloe leaves her sister Jessica to get help, with terrible consequences.

Having set up such an uncomfortable premise, the makers then ramp up the atmosphere with a dose of clinical menace and a touch of the rural claustrophobia and a crony-ridden society that characterise many of these backwoods tales. The nuanced, educated Beranger has the faint trace of a reptile’s smile throughout, as he exploits the weaknesses of his captors and ekes out information from anyone careless enough to let him. Our heroine cop Chloe, played with a mixture of the resolute and the vulnerable, is not immune to his sinister overtures. The woods beyond the village bristle with hidden dangers, not all of them animal or vegetable, and are clandestinely visited by a variety of poachers, thrill seekers and vengeful locals. Lonely chapels hide secrets and local houses, more still. The Old Gods appear in debased form, on found flash drives.

Harassed bar owner Patrick Stassart (Philippe Jeusette ) sees his chances of building a dream business park fade, as the monastery’s tiny income from making furniture and brewing beer for the outside world already has. Young monk Fr. Lucas Stassart, whose studied sympathy and dogged determination is brought out well by Clement Manuel, is charged with the task of Beranger’s novitiate, a far from popular decision with some of the other brothers. Patrick’s adopted son Emile, a child with serious health problems who hero worships his sly, manipulative hooligan uncle Vincent Stassart (Vincent Londez), is a cause of great worry to his health worker mother Judith (Laura Sepul).

The killing of a young girl, and her discovery, washed antiseptically clean and with Bernager’s notorious ‘eye’ symbol incised on the poor child’s body, horrifies and enrages this small community, who were already baying for Beranger’s blood on his unwelcome arrival. The viewer might be tempted to mentally join the witch hunt, but the plot is far more sophisticated than that. Instead, the list of possible suspects grows like ground elder, as the community boils with mingled anger and fear, convinced of Beranger’s guilt, and blinded to the other possibilities.

Performances are superb, from the sympathetic, yet guilt ridden Fr. Lucas, the angry, thwarted businessman Patrick, the cold, analytical killer Beranger, but perhaps the best of all, is the haunted, frightened police officer, Chloe, eyes permanently bulging, fingers ever reaching for her pistol and seeing the shade of her dead sister at every turn. The ending holds a shock few will guess, and a second series cannot be far away.

PUBLIC ENEMY is released on DVD Box Set on Monday 17th July by Nordic Noir & Beyond.

Scenester

15/7/17

http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/arrowfilms/public-enemy.htm

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