De Zaak Alzheimer (The Memory of a Killer) (The Alzheimer Case) poster & wallpaper
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Koen De Bouw, Werner De Smedt, Jan Decleir, Gene Bervoets, Jo De Meyere ... see more see more... , Tom Van Dyck , Lucas van den Eynde , Lone van Roosendaal , Vic de Wachter , Geert Van Rampelberg , Hilde De Baerdemaeker , Laurien Van Den Broeck , Johan van Assche , Jappe Claes , Filip Peeters , Deborah Ostrega , Bart Slegers , Dirk Roofthooft , Els Dottermans , Patrick Descamps , Babett Manalo , Anais Terryn , Marc Peeters , Tom Waes , Eddy Vereycken , Ludo Hoogmartens , Roland DeJonghe , Peter Borghs , Jan VanLooveren , Kristin Arras , Marc Janssen , Katrien Vandendries , Miek VanBocxstaele , Jan Dyck

A career criminal struggles to perform an act of street justice as he loses control of his faculties in this thriller from Belgium. Angelo Ledda (Jan Decleir) is a veteran hitman who has spent most of... read more read more... his life as a hired killer. Angelo decides to get out of the business when he finds he's losing his memory due to the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, but he's been offered a lucrative final assignment that involves murdering two people. Angelo initially says yes to the job, until he finds out one of his targets will be a 13-year-old girl; it goes against Angelo's principles to kill a child, and he decides not to take the assignment. However, Angelo quickly discovers his customers found someone with no such scruples; angry, he seeks vengeance against the man who would kill a young girl, and as he shoots his way through the chain of command that led to the murder, he makes the troubling discovery that the crime is tied to a cadre of powerful figures in business and politics. As Angelo struggles against his failing memory to find out who had final responsibility for the hit and why they ordered it, a pair of police detectives, Vincke (Koen de Bouw) and Verstuyft (Jan Decleir), is trying to find the link between the murders of a growing number of prominent citizens. The Memory of a Killer as initially screened in Belgium as De Zaak Alzheimer, or The Alzheimer Case. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

77% liked it

3,684 ratings

Critics

84% liked it

67 critics

R, 2 hr.

Directed by: Erik Van Looy

Release Date: August 26, 2005

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DVD Release Date: February 21, 2006

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Stats: 197 reviews

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Koen De Bouw Jan Decleir Koen De Bouw, Jan Decleir & Werner De Smedt Jan Decleir Jan Decleir Deborah Ostrega Zaak Alzheimer wallpaper Jan Decleir Jan Decleir De Zaak Alzheimer De Zaak Alzheimer jan decleir
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Flixster Reviews (197)

  • imrealgod
    July 11, 2010
    imrealgod
    A watchable thriller, but does feel like a drag at times. It'd have been better if they'd concentrated more on substance than style. 6.5/10.
  • binky013
    December 3, 2007
    binky013
    An interesting premise, and quite suspenseful for the first half. Sadly, this becomes less about Decleir's struggle with Alzheimer's, and more mundane to the point of evaporating into nothingness. I give it three stars for a great first half.
  • DrZeek
    September 20, 2006
    DrZeek
    A very neat story that just goes on a bit too long, I hear they have plans for an american remake, so I am interested. Good work between the hitman and the cop, and some very cool scenes, if only it could come together a little better.
  • gator681
    February 10, 2012
    gator681
    As we get older, we find ourselves not functioning as we once did, mentally and physically, so we need to take it easy. Angelo Leddo(Jan Decleir) does not have that option, even as he is losing his memory, because as his business partner Gilles(Patrick Descamps) puts it, people ... read morelike them in the assassination business cannot retire. So, Angelo takes a job in Antwerp where he can also visit his brother in a rest home. The first part of the job goes as planned but he refuses to kill Bieke Cuypers(Laurien Van den Broeck), an 11-year old who was just at the center of a child prostitution investigation by Detective Chief Inspector Vincke(Koen De Bouw) and Detective Verstuyft(Werner De Smedt) who are also one step behind Angelo.

    Even as it goes on much too long with its running debate on the meaning of justice, "The Memory of a Killer" still has moments where it shows the kind of movie it could have been. One key point comes when Angelo is worried if he killed somebody, but the movie does nothing really with this. Actually, the movie has less to do with his degrading memory(so nobody call any lawyers), than his mortality, proving that there is nothing more dangerous than somebody with nothing to lose, as the movie tries to get inside of his head.(For the record and from the information provided, I don't think he is suffering from Alzheimer's disease.) But again I have a problem believing a hitman would have trouble killing a child. At the same time, Angelo does seem rather honorable for his profession. In this job where even the killers are told not to ask questions, some crimes may be too much to handle. Then there are the cliches like the world weary cop(apparently one of a few detectives in Antwerp). So while the political situation in Belgium is unique, bureaucracy and power games seem to be everywhere. To be honest, I had never heard of pissing in a lock before.
  • bcavros
    November 23, 2010
    bcavros
    Its kind like going to a Kentuky fried chicken in Mexico City, although the plot follows a well worn path, the slight differences pop out at you. When I say a well worn path I do not want to cast dispersions on the acting it was excellent. The most intellectually stimulating part... read more of the movie is understanding how the police and judiciary work in Belgium. De Bouw and Smedt are members of the judiciary and are doing detective work on the path of Ledda a hit man with a conscious. His conscious grows as he senses his own mortality due to rapid onset altimeters. He wants to retire, but its with his history the only way for him to retire is to die. His employer coerces him to go on one last job which to his surprise is an underage prostitute, which is against his code of conduct. The next day the girl is found dead and he not sure if he killed her. This event splits the movie into a multitude of subplots all mildly entertaining
  • jimrin
    October 14, 2009
    jimrin
    Interesting idea for a story and good execution of showing his condition. I felt the story ran long though especially over the part to get the baron... and in the end, the use of a tape of him making a threat over the phone seems like only circumstantial evidence in a murder case.
  • benjaminguilbert2
    January 24, 2008
    benjaminguilbert2
    Simply excellent stuff. Everything is where it should be: it is full of action and suspense, the killer is depicted as a human being without the film becoming a melodrama, he is very good but still fallible. One problem though: the plots lacks a sens...(read more)e of Belgian-nes... read mores, it could have been shot anywhere and in my opinion good noirs have to be set in a given environment, that's were the tragedy comes from.
  • thisadulteryisripe
    July 24, 2007
    thisadulteryisripe
    Not bad. I liked the twist at the end, got a little confused and it dragged on a little too long, but it was worth 2 bucks to see.
  • maynard1210
    June 25, 2007
    maynard1210
    A hitman who's suffering from Alzheimer's, this flick is intense and intelligent. Glad i stumbled upon it.

View All De Zaak Alzheimer (The Memory of a Killer) (The Alzheimer Case) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Richard Nilsen
December 24, 2005
Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic

It is distinguished by the intelligence of its plotting and the fullness of its characterizations: These are believable people, not merely plot fodder. Full Review

Carrie Rickey
September 29, 2005
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer

A jaw-dropping premise so smartly executed that if this movie weren't in Flemish I'd swear that Michael Mann had directed it.

Richard Roeper
September 26, 2005
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

Close, but not quite. Full Review

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
September 26, 2005
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Though Memory works perfectly well as a policier, it works even better as a character study of a man losing his edge. Full Review

Philip Wuntch
September 22, 2005
Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News

This Belgian film has the sheen of polished Hollywood product, amplified by continental elegance and depth. Full Review

Desson Thomson
September 22, 2005
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

Decleir's tough-guy vulnerability, which brings to mind such classic screen heavies as Lee J. Cobb and Richard Widmark, gives an otherwise standard police procedural extraordinary grace and power. Full Review

Michael Wilmington
September 8, 2005
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

As slick, fast and terrifyingly violent as a top-grade American crime thriller, but a lot smarter than most. Full Review

Roger Ebert
September 8, 2005
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Contains the elements of a typical police procedural, transcended and brought to a sad perfection by the performance of a veteran Belgian actor named Jan Decleir. Full Review

Walter V. Addiego
September 2, 2005
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle

We shouldn't commiserate with an assassin, but part of the movie's skill is in making us share Angelo's dread at what's happening to him. Full Review

Wesley Morris
September 2, 2005
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

An entertaining new crime procedural from Belgium. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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