Aftermath

Dir: Elliott Lester

2017

**

Javier Gullon’s Aftermath is a fictionalised account of the factual events surrounding Vitaly Kaloyev, the man he murdered and the real-life collision of Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and DHL Flight 611 over the German town of Uberlingen on 1^st July 2002. Vitaly Kaloyev lost his wife and two children in the disaster. Kaloyev participated in the search for bodies at the crash site and located a broken pearl necklace owned by his daughter which was featured in the German media. He also found her body, which was intact as the trees had broken her fall. His wife's body landed in a nearby corn field and his son's body hit asphalt in front of a bus shelter. Kaloyev spent nearly all of his time next to his family’s grave for the next two years, often falling asleep and spending the night outside. The airline never apologised and offered only unsympathetic compensation - 60,000 Swiss francs for the death of his wife and 50,000 francs for the death of each of his two children. In return, Skyguide asked Kaloyev to decline any claims to the company. The document infuriated him. He asked the head of the airline about the possibility of meeting Peter Nielsen the air traffic controller who had been responsible for the disaster, but received no response from them. He then hired a private investigator to find Nielsen's address outside Zürich, before travelling to the former air traffic controller's home in Kloten. Once at Nielsen’s house, Kaloyev waited for him to come outside before stabbing him to death in front of his wife and three kids. He served two years of an eight year sentence before being released on appeal due to his mental condition not being sufficiently considered in the initial sentence. This is not a story to mess about with. So the first line of dialogue uttered by Arnold Schwarzenegger – who is playing Roman Melnyk, a character based on Kaloyev – includes him jokingly telling one of his colleagues that “You’re fired!” in reference to Schwarzenegger recently taking over from Trump as host of American Apprentice. Tasteful. The film does have some positives; Arnold Schwarzenegger is really good in what is a far more serious role than he’s given in the past. He holds his own and makes his character’s grief look real. The scene with him sitting next to the body bags containing the remains of his family is heart-breaking. The cinematography is at times, nothing short of beautiful. The crash itself is never shown, which I think shows a great level of respect, and it gives the scene in which Melnyk is told of the disaster far more impact. The script is also impressive in places, with a few profound questions asked and ethical dilemmas explored. However, after a strong start, the film falls to pieces. Great acting is contrasted with some of the most pathetic performances I have ever seen. Most of the scenes involving Scoot McNairy (who plays the guilty air traffic controller) and Maggie Grace are painful to watch, they are that awful. The airline’s lawyers are aggressive and slimy, stereotypes and clichés are thrown everywhere in rapid succession and it all becomes less and less believable. The real Kaloyev wasn’t in search of an apology and has criticized the film. He said he wanted justice, when he returned to his home in North Ossetian he was met with enthusiastic crowds who cheered him as a hero. Members of the local youth movement Nashi were standing with the accompanying acclamation: “You are the real man.” This goes against a lot of what he had said before but now with support he is without remorse, but the character in the film is not. This makes the killing in the film completely unbelievable. They changed the character and kept the action, but one wouldn’t happen without the other. An authentic dramatization of the story would have been far more interesting and would have explored the deeper ethical ramifications, Elliott Lester’s film trivialises it and insults the memories of all those involved. It’s a fascinating story, I’m not surprised Gullon chose to tell it. I also understand why certain details were changed but I think too much was messed about with, it felt muddled and it just didn’t work. It’s very strange to have a film look so good but to contain such bad acting and misjudged mood. It is, at times, quite remarkable, but it is also, at times, beyond dreadful. Watch it for Schwarzenegger’s performance only.