This is very very good.
I just happened on it, and immediately realised this was going to be a lot nastier story than I usually like, but I haven't been able to turn it off and I've also watched the second episode and found it even better.
This is a biography of the French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, who operated during the 60s and 70s on the Asian hippie trail, namely Bangkok, and the chasing of him by an idealistic young Dutch embassy attaché, amidst complete apathy, acceptance or downright corruption of all authorities, and against the express wishes of his vile, racist ambassador: the murdered victims were only "beatniks" and "scum".
A good representation of the times, the ignorance, the sexism, the rivalries between countries, the casual racism, the colonialism etc.
You quickly realise everybody is in on everything that's going on there, and the whole situation is rotten to the core.
An international cast, a realistic atmosphere and a smothering suspense building bit by bit, as well as the casual horror of what was done to the poor victims. Still, the culprit is managing to be handsome and charming, as he must have been in real life. The script goes constantly back and forth between events, and one must concentrate a little to follow the story, and the characters who are proving to be more and more complex and real.
This series is shaping to be quality viewing. Bear in mind it is unsettling, all the more for it having happened, but once you start watching you'll find impossible to look away. On the whole, excellent acting* in the "somebody real" line, and fabulous soundtrack of all the French hits of the day, Jacques Dutronc, Serge Gainsbourg, Charles Aznavour... there's an absolute attention to detail for everything, visual and audible.
*and the majority of the actors are of the nationality they are representing, which is a change. (Notable exception is Marie-Andrée, who was from Québec, but whose French is atrocious. However if you don't speak French you'll just read the subtitles when she speaks French and she is convincing when she does speak English anyway.)
Recommend.
Edit: I should like to add a few points. First, the flashbacks. They are definitely not annoying, nor are they difficult to follow, unless you have the IQ of a mosquito. However it appears from other reviews that if you are used to being spoon-fed run of the mill American series you may get irritated. Be that as it may, the structure of the story as related serves several purposes and is very cleverly done. First, gradual character exposure. By the end of episode 2 we have a ludicrous amount of important characters, compared to fictional movies, and every single one of them is clearly defined, and I know who everyone is exactly, through their clever gradual introduction. (this reminds me a bit of the Gandalf tactic in the Hobbit books when introducing 12 dwarves to an irate Beorn, via an addictive progressive adventure story that he can't help wanting to know the end of) Second, the story we are shown sort of just precedes the latter discoveries by the young Dutch embassy man (captioned at present time). This rather neatly puts us in HIS shoes, chasing for a murderer, and not in the ones of the several point of views we're also given. Third, going back to the same scene later but with new information and viewing it in a different way. All without losing the rhythm and the flow of the story. It's all very clever and very very well done.
Finally I'd like to analyse why I feel compelled to watch this when I don't do gangster and killer movies, because they are people I find nasty and uninteresting: the series doesn't glorify, or admire a killer, or gives him excuses, but essentially is an effective social critique of post colonial society at the time, while posing background reasons for such a behaviour and letting us understand it. Without excusing it. The film is much broader than "Charles Sobhraj". Even though it is, to all intents, only about Charles Sobhraj.
An international cast, a realistic atmosphere and a smothering suspense building bit by bit, as well as the casual horror of what was done to the poor victims. Still, the culprit is managing to be handsome and charming, as he must have been in real life. The script goes constantly back and forth between events, and one must concentrate a little to follow the story, and the characters who are proving to be more and more complex and real.
This series is shaping to be quality viewing. Bear in mind it is unsettling, all the more for it having happened, but once you start watching you'll find impossible to look away. On the whole, excellent acting* in the "somebody real" line, and fabulous soundtrack of all the French hits of the day, Jacques Dutronc, Serge Gainsbourg, Charles Aznavour... there's an absolute attention to detail for everything, visual and audible.
*and the majority of the actors are of the nationality they are representing, which is a change. (Notable exception is Marie-Andrée, who was from Québec, but whose French is atrocious. However if you don't speak French you'll just read the subtitles when she speaks French and she is convincing when she does speak English anyway.)
Recommend.
Edit: I should like to add a few points. First, the flashbacks. They are definitely not annoying, nor are they difficult to follow, unless you have the IQ of a mosquito. However it appears from other reviews that if you are used to being spoon-fed run of the mill American series you may get irritated. Be that as it may, the structure of the story as related serves several purposes and is very cleverly done. First, gradual character exposure. By the end of episode 2 we have a ludicrous amount of important characters, compared to fictional movies, and every single one of them is clearly defined, and I know who everyone is exactly, through their clever gradual introduction. (this reminds me a bit of the Gandalf tactic in the Hobbit books when introducing 12 dwarves to an irate Beorn, via an addictive progressive adventure story that he can't help wanting to know the end of) Second, the story we are shown sort of just precedes the latter discoveries by the young Dutch embassy man (captioned at present time). This rather neatly puts us in HIS shoes, chasing for a murderer, and not in the ones of the several point of views we're also given. Third, going back to the same scene later but with new information and viewing it in a different way. All without losing the rhythm and the flow of the story. It's all very clever and very very well done.
Finally I'd like to analyse why I feel compelled to watch this when I don't do gangster and killer movies, because they are people I find nasty and uninteresting: the series doesn't glorify, or admire a killer, or gives him excuses, but essentially is an effective social critique of post colonial society at the time, while posing background reasons for such a behaviour and letting us understand it. Without excusing it. The film is much broader than "Charles Sobhraj". Even though it is, to all intents, only about Charles Sobhraj.