Documentary review: "Into the Deep"

(Note: This review has spoilers)

"Into the Deep," a documentary about the 2017 sex-torture murder of a journalist aboard a private submarine in Denmark, is both revealing and disturbing — as well as seriously flawed.

If the combination of "sex-torture" and "private submarine" in one sentence isn't enough to convince you that this is a bizarre story, let me assure you that "Into the Deep" goes, um, even deeper into one man's depraved mind.

That man is Danish inventor-entrepreneur Peter Madsen, who was eventually convicted of the murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall while the two were sealed alone on his self-built submarine.

Madsen was working to build a rocket that he hoped would take him into space, and had drawn in a cadre of young volunteers to help him. As the movie shows, he was at turns charismatic, manipulative and an outright liar. Documentary maker Emma Sullivan was there to film much of his work, and this movie is the result. 

Peter Madsen

When you consider that this is a movie that includes discussions of torture, beheading and limbs being sawed off, it's notable that the most chilling moment may actually be a monologue by Madsen that Sullivan smartly saves for the end.

Eleven months before the murder, in an interview with Sullivan, Madsen launches into an impromptu lecture, saying "psychopaths exist among us." 

There are, he says, "human predators that walk around and grab people and use them and throw them out, used." He adds, "There is the possibility that you have simply come upon a human predator."

The movie certainly illuminates the story behind the murder —  especially if, like me, you knew little about it before — but it also has some stunning holes.

While Sullivan digs deep into Madsen's mind and also shows the emotional turmoil of those who worked with him, the movie bizarrely tells us almost nothing about Kim Wall. For much of the film, she is referred to only generically as "the journalist."  It is as if Wall is merely a prop as the narcissistic murderer soaks up all the attention.

We get multiple scenes of volunteers who worked with Madsen expressing their shock that he killed someone, but we hear nothing about who Wall was or how her death affected her family and friends. It is a stunning and offensive omission. . 

The second hole is less serious, but not trivial. The movie gives Madsen a forum to complain about how his former employers, Copenhagen Suborbitals, supposedly mistreated him. His bitterness runs through the film. So what is the response from Copenhagen Suborbitals?  There is none. There is no indication that Sullivan ever asked them. This omission is even more stunning when you know that Copenhagen Suborbitals was located immediately adjacent to Madsen's company. All Sullivan had to do was walk next door.