De Zaak Alzheimer (The Memory of a Killer) (The Alzheimer Case) (2003)

Featured Audience Ratings

• familiar s

  
  A watchable thriller, but does feel like a drag at times. It'd have been better if they'd concentrated more on substance than style. 6.5/10.

• Lanning :

  
  An interesting premise, and quite suspenseful for the first half. Sadly, this becomes less about Decleir's struggle with Alzheimer's, and more mundane to the point of evaporating into nothingness. I give it three stars for a great first half.

• Aaron N

  
  A very neat story that just goes on a bit too long, I hear they have plans for an american remake, so I am interested. Good work between the hitman and the cop, and some very cool scenes, if only it could come together a little better.

• Walter M

  
  As we get older, we find ourselves not functioning as we once did, mentally and physically, so we need to take it easy. Angelo Leddo(Jan Decleir) does not have that option, even as he is losing his memory, because as his business partner Gilles(Patrick Descamps) puts it, people like… More
  As we get older, we find ourselves not functioning as we once did, mentally and physically, so we need to take it easy. Angelo Leddo(Jan Decleir) does not have that option, even as he is losing his memory, because as his business partner Gilles(Patrick Descamps) puts it, people like them in the assassination business cannot retire. So, Angelo takes a job in Antwerp where he can also visit his brother in a rest home. The first part of the job goes as planned but he refuses to kill Bieke Cuypers(Laurien Van den Broeck), an 11-year old who was just at the center of a child prostitution investigation by Detective Chief Inspector Vincke(Koen De Bouw) and Detective Verstuyft(Werner De Smedt) who are also one step behind Angelo. Even as it goes on much too long with its running debate on the meaning of justice, "The Memory of a Killer" still has moments where it shows the kind of movie it could have been. One key point comes when Angelo is worried if he killed somebody, but the movie does nothing really with this. Actually, the movie has less to do with his degrading memory(so nobody call any lawyers), than his mortality, proving that there is nothing more dangerous than somebody with nothing to lose, as the movie tries to get inside of his head.(For the record and from the information provided, I don't think he is suffering from Alzheimer's disease.) But again I have a problem believing a hitman would have trouble killing a child. At the same time, Angelo does seem rather honorable for his profession. In this job where even the killers are told not to ask questions, some crimes may be too much to handle. Then there are the cliches like the world weary cop(apparently one of a few detectives in Antwerp). So while the political situation in Belgium is unique, bureaucracy and power games seem to be everywhere. To be honest, I had never heard of pissing in a lock before.

• Bill C

  
  Its kind like going to a Kentuky fried chicken in Mexico City, although the plot follows a well worn path, the slight differences pop out at you. When I say a well worn path I do not want to cast dispersions on the acting it was excellent. The most intellectually stimulating part of… More
  Its kind like going to a Kentuky fried chicken in Mexico City, although the plot follows a well worn path, the slight differences pop out at you. When I say a well worn path I do not want to cast dispersions on the acting it was excellent. The most intellectually stimulating part of the movie is understanding how the police and judiciary work in Belgium. De Bouw and Smedt are members of the judiciary and are doing detective work on the path of Ledda a hit man with a conscious. His conscious grows as he senses his own mortality due to rapid onset altimeters. He wants to retire, but its with his history the only way for him to retire is to die. His employer coerces him to go on one last job which to his surprise is an underage prostitute, which is against his code of conduct. The next day the girl is found dead and he not sure if he killed her. This event splits the movie into a multitude of subplots all mildly entertaining