21EZTHE WASHINGTON POST.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019Movies
Cold Case Hammarskjold
Following the tale of the plane (crash)
Ratings guide
Masterpiece
Very good
Okay
Poor
Also reviewed
Ready Or Not
A new bride is
stalked by her
wealthy in-laws in
this satirical horror
film. 22Aquarela
A documentary
looks at the power
and importance of
water. 23Plus
Common Sense
Media 24Opening next
week
An unathletic young
woman tries to get
her life back on
track in Brittany
Runs a Marathon.John Travolta plays a
man obsessed with
a movie star in The
Fanatic.A man who can
somehow
communicate with
his murdered niece
by phone tries to
prevent her death in
Don’t Let Go.Liam Hemsworth
stars in the thriller
Killerman.Love, Antosha is a
documentary about
the untimely death
of actor Anton
Yelchin.BY ANN HORNADAY
“Cold Case Hammarskjold”
wants to blow your mind.
In this unsettling, formally
slippery documentary, the entire
notion of investigative documen-
tary is turned on its head, as
viewers are led down an increas-
ingly vertiginous path to the mer-
cenary underside of global real-
politik. A cut-and-dried murder
mystery that becomes a gnarly
thicket of hegemonic ruthless-
ness, racism, shadowy cabals and
a proudly unreliable narrator,
this trippy junket to the dark side
is ideally suited to our conspira-
cy-minded age. Believe it or not —
but see it, if only to experience the
most proficient exercise in alter-
nate history this side of “Serial.”
The titular protagonist of “Cold
Case Hammarskjold” is Dag
Hammarskjold, the secretary
general of the United Nations
who died in a plane crash in 1961,
in what was then northern Rho-
desia. Although his death was
ruled an accident, several observ-
ers noted the suspicious circum-
stances of his death, including
how convenient it was for certain
political and corporate factions.
As a proponent of self-determina-
tion and economic independence
in Africa, Hammarskjold was
considered a threat to interests
that had long seen the continent’s
vast resources as theirs for the
taking.
Danish filmmaker Mads Brug-
ger re-examines the episode, re-
turning to the place where the
remains of Hammarskjold’s plane
were buried and following an
investigator named Goran Bjork-
dahl down a rabbit hole that ends
with a pretty convincing case that
the U.N. leader was indeed mur-dered. But Brugger doesn’t stop
there: The rabbit hole leads him
into even more disturbing areas
that have disquieting relevance to
modern-day life, from medical
epidemics to the equally fatal
contagion of white supremacy
and militarism.
“Cold Case Hammarskjold” is so
creepily convincing (if far from
conclusive) that it might sound odd
to call it delightful. But Brugger
resists the temptation to take him-
self too seriously: Appearing on
camera as an earnest, often amus-
ing character, he enlists the ser-
vices of African stenographers to
whom he dictates his script, often
going off-book to question his own
position as a white Westerner act-
ing out his own form of appropria-
tion. Whose story is being told in
“Cold Case Hammarskjold,” and
who has the right to tell it? Along-
side the evidence that Brugger and
his collaborator try to marshal on
behalf of their hypothesis, the film-
maker’s meta-inquiry threads
through the narrative like part ofan ever-tightening double helix.
Funny, provocative and chill-
ing, “Cold Case Hammarskjold”
draws the viewer into that helix
and manages to be improbably
entertaining, even as it becomes
increasingly, shockingly uncom-
fortable. It’s impossible to emerge
from this film without being
shaken to your core. Mission ac-
complished: Mind blown.
[email protected]TORE VOLLAN/MAGNOLIA PICTURESUnrated. At Landmark’s E Street
Cinema. Contains some mature
thematic material.
In English, French, Swedish,
Bemba and Danish with subtitles.
128 minutes.Documentary explores
suspicious circumstances
of U.N. official’s death
Filmmaker Mads Brugger, left,
and investigator Goran
Bjorkdahl, right, reexamine the
death of Dag Hammarskjold,
the United Nations secretary
general, in a 1961 plane crash.
Their film even returns to the
place where the remains of the
plane were buried.