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Antibodies AKA Antikörper (2005)
R0 - United Kingdom - Tartan Video UK Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen (14th July 2007). |
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The Film
 The six-year manhunt is finally over. Serial killer Gabriel Engel (André Hennicke - e.g. “Downfall AKA Der Untergang (2004)” and “Speer and Hitler: The Devil's Architect AKA Speer und er (2005)” mini-series) is located and caught in Berlin. His last victim will be one of the police officers, gunned down with a shotgun. The leader of the investigation, Seiler (Heinz Hoenig) is still not pleased. What he now needs is a confession - plenty of them to be exact, so the interrogation starts right from the hospital bed, where the wounded Engel now lays. He admits 14 sexually orientated murders - all young boys (and that one cop). No girls. Not even the one with the name of Lucia Flieder. In the meantime the small village in the countryside is having its first light of dawn. The local police officer Michael Martens (Wotan Wilke Möhring) is already awake, after another nightmare. He goes hunting. His wife Rosa (Ulrike Krumbiegel) with their daughter and 13-year old son Christan (Hauke Diekamp) stay at home. Martens is a quiet Catholic man, with a strong sense of morality and the difference between the “right” and “wrong”. Some of the villagers call him ironically “Holy Saint Michael”. Lately Martens has carried a burden. A young girl from the village - yes, the one with the name Lucia Flieder - was found brutally murdered and almost cut open near the village. The murderer was never caught and the crime has tormented Martens ever since. During the process, he has alienated himself not only from the village community, but also from his wife and son. Now he hears the news; the prime suspect of the murder of Lucia Flieder (and many others) is caught. For many the nightmare is over. But not for Martens. Not after he hears the full confession. He has to regain his peace. Martens flies to Berlin to meet Gabriel Engel, the dark-minded and perverse psychopath. After his initial confession, Engel hasn´t spoke in weeks. For inspector Seiler, “The Farmer” (as he calls Martens) might be the key to get Engel talking again. The game begins and it´s played in the minds of Engel and Martens. The “serial killer”-sub genre has pretty much been sucked dry in the world of motion pictures, but “Antibodies” by director/writer/co-producer Christian Alvart breathes some originality into it. Granted, the influences to the films like “The Silence of the Lambs (1991)” (Engel is even joking about it), “Se7en (1995)” and “Tattoo (2002)” are there, but I find them quite subtle in the end and in no way distracting. Director Alvart (who is already snatched in Hollywood with the upcoming “Case 39 (2008)”) has constructed a story that works in many levels, being horrifying and disturbing, but yet fascinating and touching at the same time. It´s also a story that the audience simply has to see to the end, since Alvart is constantly confusing them and the true ending is guess work at its best - even for the cleverest viewer. It´s interesting how the film opens in a very explosive way, only to move in the complex emotional world of Martens and eventually even deeper to the world of both him (extremely “good”) and Engel (extremely “bad”). When the story progresses, we´ll learn that perhaps Martens isn´t all that “good” after all, when he faces his hidden and buried demons and his mask of constraint is slowly starting to fade. “Antibodies” also deals with religion, especially the part of it that can actually suffocate people and can eventually lead to unwanted results. Religion can offer plenty of good to many people, but when it´s too controlled - too strict, it can do also bad. Sometimes, punishment and pleasure are not very far from each other. The film is rated “18”, mainly for the few selected controversial images (dead child and hedgehog) and for the one rather explicit sex scene. The language of the film can also offend the most sensitive viewers and the subject matter is delicate. Alvart still avoids the film being too “exploitative” and in the end the film is more like a psychological drama than horror. It´s definitely not pure exploitation. “Antibodies” is a bit long and slightly too ambitious, including some clichés - it doesn´t invent the wheel again, but in the end it feels very fresh, intense and a well structured film. Look out for the cameo (as police officer Schmitz) from the American actor (Norman Reedus (e.g. “Blade II (2002)” and “American Gangster (2007)”) in the opening scene.
Video
The film is presented in Anamorphic 2.35:1. Perhaps partly due to the original style of the film, the transfer is a bit grainy and not very colourful. It has a fair share of edge enhancement, compression is not always spot-on and the image could be sharper. Still, the transfer is above the average and quite satisfying. The “dual layer” disc is “R0” encoded (back cover says “R2” - as well as claiming the aspect ratio is “1.85:1”) and has 16 chapters. The film runs 122:24 minutes (PAL).
Audio
Three audio options are included - all German; DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (with Surround-encoding). Optional English subtitles are included. DTS sounds fair, but the mix is not perfect. Dialogue mainly comes in all front channels, while some surround-activity is left for the rears also. The film comes alive (=loud) in the scenes with music, sound effects and such, but the dialogue-scenes tend to be balanced too low for my ears. Dolby Digital 5.1 sounded quite similar in terms of the sound mix.
Extras
-“B-Roll” -featurette runs 3:56 minutes, including some random behind-the-scenes material. Some dialogue has optional English subtitles. -“Interviews” -featurettes includes three sections: *“Director/writer/co-producer Christian Alvart” is a “Tartan exclusive”, running 17:51 minutes. Alvart speaks pretty good English (no subtitles) and starts off by talking about his background (he has made his own home movies from the age of 15, moved later to Berlin to start as a runner and rising to the first assistant director), era before “Antibodies” (he did some screenwriting before directing first proper film “Curiosity & the Cat (1999)”), about “Antibodies” (he did plenty of research of serial killers and also talks about the parallels to other serial killer-films), actors (Norman Reedus did his cameo for free), production (the low budget film was shot fast in Berlin, only 3 days worth of shooting in the countryside), style (the look of the film gets brighter even when the subject matter turns darker), controversial themes (religion, sex scene), music (composer is an old friend of his) and the German film industry (films are made mostly by “their rules”). *”Actor André Hennicke” (Gabriel Engel) runs 4:14 minutes and is in German (with optional English subtitles). Hennicke wanted the role and talks about how the acting can be one way to get rid of the “hidden anger” that people can have. He still points out that the acting is a job for him, so when he goes home, the character stays on the set. He also mentions the German film industry, which doesn´t want to be too “provocative”. *”Actor Wotan Wilke Möhring” (Michael Martens) runs 2:18 minutes, also being in German (with optional English subtitles). Möhring mainly talks about his relationship toward religion. He also wanted the role as soon as he read the script. -German theatrical trailer (1:49 min) is included and it has also optional English subtitles. -4-page booklet includes liner notes by Alan Jones.
Overall
A surprise find from Germany, that is dealing with difficult and complex subjects, still managing to keep everything fresh and interesting. This DVD-release is offering a solid transfer, a mediocre DTS-track and some decent extras. For more info, please visit the homepage of Tartan Video (UK).
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