Zatopek van Heerden is bright and is a rather likable and intelligent guy with multiple degrees in psychology, and he just started working as a criminal profiler for the SAPD.
Throw in his partner, an old-fashioned detective who distrusts computers and believes the only way to catch a criminal is with good old-fashioned police work: following clues, crossing possible suspects off lists. But profiling is rubbish - he believes you can't predict the criminals'.
Until one day Zatopek knowingly make a wrong choice, and three lives spiral out of control.
Unable to forgive himself, he turns to self-loathing and destruction, making every body around him miserable. Eventually he takes on a case and slowly he claws himself back out of the hole he has dug himself, realizing that he will need all of his wit if he is to survive the ending to this mystery and save the woman he has come to see as his Savior.
Neil Sandilands delivers a powerful performance as a human. His Zatopek van Heerden makes mistakes, can't shoot to save his life, walks blindly into traps, picks fights with the the cream of the society, phones sex-lines when he is lonely, describes himself as "trash" and tries to calm his devils with the bottle.
How refreshing it is to see the full metamorphosis of a man and every emotion in between. To be able to see the effect (by means of back-flashes) that choices in his past has had on his life, is richly rewarded by Sandinland's performance. It's nice to see he has grown as an actor since his "7de Laan" days.
I'm looking forward to the next of Deon Meyer's books to be filmed. He writes the greatest unlikable anti-heroes as his protagonists. And that is what I liked about Zatopek van Heerden: people are like that.
Throw in his partner, an old-fashioned detective who distrusts computers and believes the only way to catch a criminal is with good old-fashioned police work: following clues, crossing possible suspects off lists. But profiling is rubbish - he believes you can't predict the criminals'.
Until one day Zatopek knowingly make a wrong choice, and three lives spiral out of control.
Unable to forgive himself, he turns to self-loathing and destruction, making every body around him miserable. Eventually he takes on a case and slowly he claws himself back out of the hole he has dug himself, realizing that he will need all of his wit if he is to survive the ending to this mystery and save the woman he has come to see as his Savior.
Neil Sandilands delivers a powerful performance as a human. His Zatopek van Heerden makes mistakes, can't shoot to save his life, walks blindly into traps, picks fights with the the cream of the society, phones sex-lines when he is lonely, describes himself as "trash" and tries to calm his devils with the bottle.
How refreshing it is to see the full metamorphosis of a man and every emotion in between. To be able to see the effect (by means of back-flashes) that choices in his past has had on his life, is richly rewarded by Sandinland's performance. It's nice to see he has grown as an actor since his "7de Laan" days.
I'm looking forward to the next of Deon Meyer's books to be filmed. He writes the greatest unlikable anti-heroes as his protagonists. And that is what I liked about Zatopek van Heerden: people are like that.
