"Das jüngste Gericht" is an Austrian German-language film for the small screen from 2008, so this one will have its 10th anniversary next year. It is among the most known works by highly prolific Swiss director Urs Egger and the script is by Don Bohlinger, who is probably mostly known for "Das Experiment". This one we have here is basically two movies in one, so you could almost call it a mini-series. It's 1.5 hours for each part and you can watch the entire thing in 3 hours if you want to. And I believe you should because it has Austrian actor Christoph Waltz in it shortly before his Hollywood breakthrough with Tarantino. And it has another of Austria's finest in Tobias Moretti, who plays the main character and is joined by female lead Silke Bodenbender, who is rock-solid too and gives a good performance too, even if her material is not always great.
There are many films out there that are on religiously-motivated murders (Se7en), but this one here is among the very best I have seen. The script is really good at times and also pretty bold, not scared of anything. There are minor flaws like why wouldn't they suspect Waltz' character's wife to be the killer as he just told her he'd cheated on her and leave her, but it's fine as this was of course also explained by the number that it must be somebody else. And his death sure came at the right time with Bodenbender's character not too fond of the idea to stay with him after spending a night with his colleague right before that. This colleague is Moretti and he is really really good, definitely elevates the material, even if I have to wonder how he was allowed to keep investigating with how personal it became for him at the very end of the first 1.5 hours. This end was also when the film was at its best, at a brilliant ****/*****. But even if this level had not been achieved afterward again, it was still a really solid watch from start to finish. The plot twists were entertaining and still felt authentic most of the time and the lead performance was nothing short of amazing. It's a film you don't want to miss out on, especially if you love the genre and another great achievement is that it never drags despite the huge runtime. Go see it.
There are many films out there that are on religiously-motivated murders (Se7en), but this one here is among the very best I have seen. The script is really good at times and also pretty bold, not scared of anything. There are minor flaws like why wouldn't they suspect Waltz' character's wife to be the killer as he just told her he'd cheated on her and leave her, but it's fine as this was of course also explained by the number that it must be somebody else. And his death sure came at the right time with Bodenbender's character not too fond of the idea to stay with him after spending a night with his colleague right before that. This colleague is Moretti and he is really really good, definitely elevates the material, even if I have to wonder how he was allowed to keep investigating with how personal it became for him at the very end of the first 1.5 hours. This end was also when the film was at its best, at a brilliant ****/*****. But even if this level had not been achieved afterward again, it was still a really solid watch from start to finish. The plot twists were entertaining and still felt authentic most of the time and the lead performance was nothing short of amazing. It's a film you don't want to miss out on, especially if you love the genre and another great achievement is that it never drags despite the huge runtime. Go see it.
