The movie is about a guy - Brad McCullam - who killed his mother with a sword while she was having coffee in a neighbours' house. There are witnesses, very soon after the murder police appears and the chief investigator Havenhurst (William Dafoe) tries to find out the motives while the murderer seems to keep two hostages in his house across the street. The whole movie feels very calm, very un-tense the whole time. No dramatic "swat" action (although a "swat" team appears), no drastic violence scenes, no last-minute-twist etc. So it might not be the appropriate feed for the usual car-chase-loving-crowd. But it's worth watching imho. We see Havenhurst investigating, he appears to be an experienced, sovereign cop. He talks to the murderers' fiancée and another of his acquaintances. In several flashbacks we find out that McCullam had an intense, possibly morbid relation to his mother. He also started to act disconcerting after a trip to Peru where he saw all his fellow travellers dying in a river. With Havenhurst we realize step by step that Macallums increasingly obvious-odd disturbances were never reported to a doctor or anyone else who could've handled his problems professionally. Even shortly before the murder, when McCullam begs two neighbours to hit him with a baseball bat before he 'will do it', nothing happens. No one interferes. So he gets arrested and that is nearly the end of the movie. There is no moral judgement. His fiancée and others might've prevented the murder, their 'good intentions' kept them from it. Also, McCullam might've tried to prevent his Peru travel mates from going on their fateful rafting voyage, but he didn't. Although 'god' told him not to join them. The whole movie is presented in a semi-documentary style which fits to Herzog who has shot several documentaries in his career. Additionally it fits to the fact that this story is based on a similar murder case. The score is excellent. Summary: a life gone wrong. Some close bystanders might've seen it coming, though.
Review of My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
