With Halloween synonymous with scary things, (as are horror films) this time round we’re going for something a little different. Still as dark and disturbing as they come, but 7 Days is horrific for a different reason and a real world issue that not only effects the victims’ families directly, but something that sends shock waves throughout the community too.
Bruno Hamel (Claude Legault) is a surgeon. He’s very good at what he does and has a loving wife and daughter, but one day his life is turned upside down when he wakes up after a long shift to discover his daughter has gone missing. Before he went to sleep his daughter wanted to go and deliver her 9th birthday invitations together, but Hamel was too tired, so instead she delivered them alone on her route to school. Hamel takes the police officers, who are around investigating, on her usual route to school, as well as the local park where she usually plays with friends, and it’s here they quickly discover the raped and murdered body of young Jasmine. Bruno Hamel and his wife, Sylvie (Fanny Mallette) are mortified and filled with anger and regret. It isn’t too long before the Police, lead by Police detective Mercure (Remy Girard), apprehend the murderer, Anthony Lemaire (Martin Dubreuil), a laborer with previous charges to similar crimes, but no convictions due to lack of evidence. It’s an open and shut case, Lamaire is guilty and he’ll go to prison, but that just doesn’t sit well with Hamel, who cannot shake the guilt he has for letting his daughter go out alone. Thus he hatches a plan to kidnap Lamaire and punish him for his crimes against his daughter and the other children he’s abused in the past. Over the next 7 days Hamel takes his time patiently and methodically torturing Lamaire, both mentally and physically. But can detective Mercure – who has a tragic past himself – make it to Hamel, to stop him from destroying his own life before ending Lemaire’s.
7 Days doesn’t pull any punches as it highlights what you imagine parents would go through if their child went missing, and the pure horror and extent of the nature of this traumatic crime. It’s not something you could ever emphasise with, but 7 Days does the best possible job. The revealing of young Jasmine’s body is a difficult part of the film to watch and you find your own emotions of horror, disgust and anger coming to the surface. You understand why Hamel – played fantastically, in an almost introverted performance by Claude Legault – is doing what he’s doing, but you also understand the side of his wife and Police detective, that they don’t want him to take Lemaire’s life because in turn it means he’s giving up his own life to a man that doesn’t deserve it.
We see the story from the side of detective Mercure who’s in charge of the case. A broken man who’s wife was murdered 6 months previously. His wife’s murderer went to prison for his crimes and you sense that he shares Bruno’s pain, but at the same time cannot let him take the law into his own hands, ruining his life in the process. He’s desperate to track down Hamel, who’s hidden himself away with Lemaire so that he can go through with his plans. The community is on Hamel’s side, sharing in the press, and to some who actually encounter Hamel, that “they’re with him” and that Lemaire deserves everything that’s coming to him. The only problem is, it’s easy to say that when they’re not the ones getting blood on their hands.
You get the feeling the film is trying to tell two sides to the argument: one that Bruno’s actions are exactly what you’d want to do and would think about doing in that situation, and nd two, that yes a heinous crime has been committed but it shouldn’t consume Bruno and take his soul. That he should let the law deal with Lemaire, and Hamel and his wife should try to find some sort of peace – and it’s a powerful message for the film to get across because it truly is one of those situations that you imagine is utterly impossible to emphasise with unless you’ve personally been involved in it.
7 Days has a lot more to offer than just the description on the back of the DVD, with its detailed and layered plot you’ll constantly find yourself at odds with whether you believe in Bruno’s cause or not.
Rating: A tragic story that keeps you engaged through to the very end (7/10).
Recent Comments