FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

Two documentary filmmakers get unprecedented access into the world of crime. They are allowed to follow the life of Kaspar Carr, professional thief. The cameras watch everything, from the initial recognizance and intelligence gathering to the planning stages and even covering the actual hits, sometimes from inside. As the filmmakers get deeper into this world, Kaspar begins to feel increasingly tense. His unwillingness to open up about his personal life (he’ll only talk about his profession, not his reasoning for entering it) compounds the problems once the outside factors start to take effect.

You know, it’s really tough to know whether or not the movie is actually staged or not. I’ll let you see it for yourself to decide, but either way it’s a testament to the filmmaking prowess that you can’t tell for sure one way or another. There are certainly moments that feel phony simply because of the amount of coverage given to some scenes. You’d think that the subject matter would require a run and gun approach – one camera, always handheld for mobility’s sake since you’ll never know what may happen. However occasionally you get a set up with multiple cameras, such as the first robbery we see. Or you get scenes that are cut like a motion picture would be. But that only means that if it’s real, they’re really good at getting what they need to get under their circumstances, and if it’s fake, they’re really good at getting what they need to make an effective mockumentary. I don’t think too many non-film students would notice what I did.

No matter what, I think that almost everyone would be fascinated with this. It’s like watching a real life (maybe) crime drama play out in front of your eyes, and the tension that arises later simply makes it better. You really don’t know what’s going to happen. Plus Kaspar Carr himself is completely intriguing. You can see how completely guarded he is while still trying to keep up appearances. He gives in your face interviews. Literally. He’s little more than a highly intelligent salesman that has decided to make his living through illegal theft rather than persuasive reasoning. He has an array of costumes and does extensive research before each hit, sometimes staking out a location for over a year to see if it’s even possible.

I really don’t have an issue of whether or not the whole thing is fake. My biggest problem is with the issue of filmmaker responsibility. If it’s real, should they be turning Kaspar Carr in to the police? After all, they would get arrested too. Should they notify the businesses? Carr isn’t hitting major corporations; he’s hitting the more locally owned successful stores. Of course, hitting major corporations isn’t any better and shouldn’t be rationalized either. But if it’s fake, that draws up a whole other set of concerns. It seems like the advice and actions they show on film is actually worthwhile and could easily work. Carr’s tips and tricks of the trade could potentially help an aspiring thief get better and score bigger. Should that kind of thing be shown?

I certainly don’t have the answers to those questions. All I can say is that I don’t plan to use that information for my own personal gain, and I enjoyed watching the film quite a bit. As a real film, I found it to be an interesting character study and a greater understanding of the mindset most of us will never truly be able to fully grasp. As a mockumentary, I found it to be a refreshingly original and effectively handled film on par with the likes of “Man Bites Dog.

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