Arts, Movies, Reviews, SA 0

Movie Review: The Purity of Vengeance

By Tony Polese · On July 23, 2019

Volvo Scandinavian Film Festival – July & August 2019
Palace Cinemas

(Reviewed by John Glennie)

In a seemingly abandoned apartment in Copenhagen, construction workers make a shocking and gruesome discovery. Behind a wall, three mummified bodies are seated around a dining table, as a fourth chair lies vacant. Investigators Carl Mørck (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and Assad (Fares Fares) from Department Q embark on a race against time to identify the bodies and also find out who the free space at the table might be intended for. Their search will bring them to a notorious women’s hospital on the island of Sprogø where they discover what was thought to be a closed chapter of the past may still be an open book.

Another outstanding Scandinavian movie – they sure know how to make them! Mørck is a very dour character and, must admit, I have never seen him smile. He knows it too as he mentions in a couple of lines that “she would thank me for not having to put up with me” when discussing a broken relationship.

This is the chilling final instalment in the Nordic- noir Department Q series, based on the novels by Jussi Adler-Olsen. After his captivating award-winning debut feature Reconstruction (2003) acclaimed director Christoffer Boe reunites with actor Nikolaj Lie Kaas to achieve nothing short of an engrossing finale which has been widely heralded as the best of the series.

I haven’t had the privilege of seeing other movies in the series but am definitely keen on seeking them if they are anywhere near as good as this film. A captivating thriller from start to finish – don’t miss it!

DIRECTOR: Christoffer Boe
CAST: Fares Fares, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Johanne Louise Schmidt
2018 | 119 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller | Denmark
Danish, Spanish and Arabic with English subtitles