After LE CAIRE CONFIDENTIAL last year, I just discover this film, not so far from the previous one, if you consider the story, the basic scheme. Not so far.A dark, bleak,gloomy tale speaking a rogue cop, former commissioner of Antwerp anti drug squad and involved with a right wing political party. But other elements are also in matter. Not for all audiences. I recommand it anyway.

"Dode Hoek" (Blind Spot) is probably the first movie released in the two parts of Belgium, and also produced in both parts of the country. Peter Van De Begin plays a corrupt police commissioner extremely well. His emotions go from extreme sarcasm to anger, mistrust and grief. Living legend Jan Decleir gives another very good performance while newcomer Soufiane Chilah gives a breakthrough showcase of his acting. The movie itself focuses a lot on racism and extremism on both sides of the law, while being extremely relevant to Belgium after the terrorist attacks in Brussels on march 22 2016. The pacing is a bit weird in the beginning but after a shocking reveal in the middle non-stop suspense keeps you on the edge of your seat till the credits start, and the ending will leave you question certain politic choices made on behalf of our freedom, while ignoring the blind spots.

I decided to give this film a watch simply because that was my chance to find out what modern Belgian cinema is like. As it turns out, it's pretty dark and gritty, with a lot of depressive undertones and a heavy social message. It could've been a great thriller, and the first part of the film indeed is, with you wondering what's going on and what all those little details will lead to. The acting is pretty decent too, with Peter Van den Begin being especially good as a big police official making a switch to politics to push his strict anti-immigrant agenda on a higher level.

But what was Jan Verbeeck's virtue is the film's flaw. That is, being forthright to the point of bluntness. The "immigrants are a threat, and we want you to give up your civil rights for us to fight that plague" message had no second layer at all, and we sense from the start that the party pushing that message is the devil himself. Dode Hoek never even tries to delve further into this boil of societal frustration and show the other side of the story. Instead, it goes with displaying erratic and illogical behavior of the protagonist, at the same time trying to show his "humane" side, apparently in an attempt to make the character more sympathetic and relatable at the expense of the story's consistency. That makes the "sudden" plot twist at the finale almost inevitable, but hardly any logical.

Apparently the immigration crisis is really the most burning topic of the European life of late, and the film artists can't just sit and ignore it. But, judging by this film, the cinema - and maybe the society as a whole - has yet to learn the language in which it could talk about it openly, without both self-censorship and hysteria. If that had been the real point of Dode Hoek - to show all the confusion and perplexity of those torn between the mandatory political correctness and the frustration of not feeling comfortable about the current state of affairs - then this might have been a really visionary film. Unfortunately, it prefers the heavy punches of black and white instead, exactly like its main character. Well, look where such approach has led him...