It’s hard to quite know what to write about Michael – you wouldn’t want to call the German film enjoyable, but it is certainly compelling and thought-provoking cinema.
The eponymous subject of the movie is a 35-year-old whose existence from the outside appears mundane, going about his business quietly and not standing out in any way.
Michael is quietly successful at his job, keeps in contact with his family, and goes out on a skiing holiday with friends. While doing this he also keeps a 10-year-old boy locked in his basement.
Writer and director Markus Schleinzer very deliberately chooses not to sensationalise the subject matter, the effect being to make the film even more disquieting.
The interactions between Michael and his captive Wolfgang at times could almost reflect that between a child and his guardian, meaning that moments when any illusion of that is shattered are all the more disquieting.
Michael Fuith’s performance as the paedophile is kept minimal and is captivating throughout, the character so tightly reined in that you can never be sure what he might do next.
Meanwhile the manner in which David Rauchenberger is directed as Wolfgang is superb, sometimes acting with all the indifference or rebellion that you’d expect of a young child in a normal family environment, with other moments providing slight yet highly disturbing glimpses of the horrifying situation.
Michael is a movie you can watch without fear of witnessing anything too lurid or gruesome, instead letting you consider the subject in a more psychological manner, meaning its events linger with you for a good while after the credits have rolled.
Again, you wouldn’t want to call it enjoyable, but as a superbly handled examination of the day-to-day realities of paedophilia Michael was one of the stand-outs of the Glasgow Film Festival so far.
