“Angel of Death”: Netflix premieres a shady drama based on real events starring Jessica Chastain

At a time when real crime is in vogue and when stories of serial killers or crime reports from different countries are successfully adapted, the latest example of this is the miniseries “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”, in which Ryan Murphy transformed Evan Peters into the infamous psychopath that gives the fiction its title. In terms of feature films, Netflix itself dared to address the case of Charles Cullen, better known as “The Angel of Death”a man sentenced to 18 life sentences and who officially killed 29 people when he was a nurse in several hospitals, although his victims are estimated to be 400.

The project looked interesting. Based on the book “The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder” by journalist Charles Graeber and which is part of the true-crime subgenre, the film, presented at the latest Toronto Film Festival, it is directed by Danish director Tobias Lindholmnominated for an Oscar as best international film for the war film ‘A War’, and written by the British Krysty Wilson-Cairns, nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the epic war film ‘1917’. Add to this that its protagonists are two winners of the gold statuette for best actress and best actor, Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne.

With which, “Angel of Death” had all the ingredients to be one of the most powerful films of the awards season from 2022 to 2023. However, the result is far from up to the task of competing for awards like the Oscars. Plus, it’s dangerously close to the tabletop show style of those that abound on Antena 3 – the only thing missing is the psycho nanny to top the package off. The problem is that the film does not delve into the complex psyche of its disturbed protagonist, who remains in a decent second place put the nurse who unmasked him as the protagonist.

And that limits the story a lot, it remains closed in the mere case, narrated in a conventional way, both with its writing and with its technical section. Furthermore, if Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne were not the protagonists, no one would say that it is a production designed for the big screen, because, although it premiered directly on Netflix in Spain, it had a screening in theaters of other markets. . .

Jessica Chastain saves the show again

Yes, the tape has notable points. The first is that it unmasks a health system that has allowed the killer to act with impunity., because when they suspected the cases, they simply fired him. None of the hospitals, nor the health insurance companies, faced their responsibilities, as they could have prevented several deaths. The film would have revealed how the inexistence of a public health system allowed Cullen to work in various medical and outpatient centers. Added to this is the courageous struggle of a woman, a single mother, with heart problems and the working classwhich was what exposed the criminal.

However, The film doesn’t delve into these virtues either, being a mere performance exercise for Jessica Chastain. After winning the Oscar for ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’, the performer seems to be quickly looking for another one, with a character who is the opposite of the television preacher. And, as happened with Michael Showalter’s film, the result is very similar, as Chastain’s metamorphosis is once again one of the elements that saves the film. Indeed, the interpreter manages to surprise Redmayne, who remains in second place and offers a good performancebut this does not cease to arouse the feeling that he could have gone further.

‘The Angel of Death’ is a fair film, which is a far cry from Lindholm’s previous work as a director and Wilson-Cairns as a screenwriter. Jessica Chastain and, to a lesser extent, Eddie Redmayne save a proposal that remains locked in the codes of the films that try to adapt the mysteries, limiting themselves to making a sketchy portrait of Cullen and do not explore beyond a mind which, to this day, remains unknown.

Note: 5

The best: Jessica Chastain, who knows how to embody a worldly heroine only in the face of adversity.

Worse: Film with a conventional plot and a very televised technical part.