Antibodies (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

Pedophilia, serial murder, Catholic guilt, big-time Biblical imagery: director Christian Alvart bites on some serious issues in Antibodies, but for the most part it's not more than he can chew. Produced in 2005, the German film opens with a riveting sequence in which Gabriel Engel (Andre Hennicke), who has raped, killed, and mutilated more than a dozen young boys, is finally captured by the police. Enter Michael Martens (Wotan Wilke Mohring), a part-time policeman (and full-time farmer) in Herzbach, a small country town where a crime with an M.O. similar to Engel's has taken place (in investigating the incident, the rigid and humorless Martens has so alienated his fellow townsfolk that his own father-in-law shoots his dog). Marten comes to the city to interview the bad guy, whereupon a relationship heavily reminiscent of the Hannibal Lecter-Clarice Starling pas de deux in The Silence of the Lambs evolves; Engel, a stereotypical lunatic who dismisses Jack the Ripper and Charles Manson as wusses, will talk only to the guileless country cop (who undergoes some fairly radical changes as he succumbs to the lurid temptations of big city life). But are the killer's denials of responsibility for this latest atrocity true? Could Martens' own son, the trouble-prone Christan (Hauke Diekamp), be the actual perp? To find the answer, viewers are obliged to wade through some pretty heavy-handed scenes (a symbolic re-enactment of the Biblical tale of Abraham and Isaac is fairly ludicrous). But Antibodies is also filled with gorgeous and creative cinematography and stylish use of lighting, art direction, and set design, all of which help make the film eminently watchable. This two-disc special edition includes a "making of" documentary, deleted scenes, outtakes, and other bonus features. --Sam Graham

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