Of all types of personal crime, serial killings are undoubtedly the most horrific. However, serial killers not only exist in the chaotic long history, even if the footsteps of time have passed the millennium, there are still many serial killers who have committed crimes one after another.
The deadliest among them was neither the perverted Samuel Little (Samuel Little) who maimed 93 women, nor the "Green River Killer" Gary Ridgway (Gary Ridgway) who claimed to have 71 victims. It was Charles Cullen, a male nurse known as the "Angel of Death". The recent Netflix movie, The Good Nurse, is based on this sensational case.
"Nurse of Conscience" poster
Charles Cullen was born in West Orange, New Jersey, USA in 1960. He was arrested by the police on December 12, 2003 and is still serving a sentence in the New Jersey State Prison. His sentence was 18 consecutive life sentences with no parole until 2403.
Of the 43 years Cullen had personal freedom, he worked as a nurse for 16 years and served in many hospitals and medical institutions. During this period, he added an overdose of digoxin and other drugs to the intravenous infusion, resulting in the death of countless patients - Cullen himself admitted that there were 29 victims, while the actual number of victims under the police investigation reached 400. Since his arrest, he has never explained his motive for the crime.
So, the question is, can the movie "Nurse of Conscience" answer this puzzling question? The answer is - no.
Charles Cullen himself
In fact, although "Nurse of Conscience" is about the final crime of Charles Cullen, played by "Little Freckle" Eddie Redmayne, and the process of being brought to justice, the real protagonist of the film is not him. As you can see from the title of the film, there is also a real "angel" who is diametrically opposed to Cullen in the film, that is, Amy Loren played by Jessica Chastain of "Model Worker".
Jessica Chastain as Amy Loren
Amy herself is also a hard worker. As a single mother, she has two daughters who are under ten years old. However, her work as a night shift nurse in the ICU makes it difficult for her to spend much time with her daughters. To make Amy's life even worse, she was diagnosed with severe myocarditis that required surgery to recover.
Since she was working in the new unit for four months and only one year, the medical insurance could not cover the high cost of surgery, so she could only endure the heart discomfort at an unknown time during the high-intensity work, in order to survive. Surgery after four months. On the other hand, Amy has to be careful not to reveal flaws at work, because once the hospital knows that she is ill, it will immediately fire her. It was during Amy's most helpless period that a seasoned new colleague entered her life, Charles Cullen.
Eddie Redmayne as Charles Cullen
Cullen and his wife divorced, and in order to be closer to their two daughters, he chose to work at Parkfield Memorial Hospital in New Jersey, where Amy is located. Like Amy, Cullen is also used to calling patients by their first names instead of their surnames, and jokes with patients; after learning about Amy's condition, he took more care of her and often came to Amy's house to accompany her two daughters. play games. However, the two patients Amy cared for passed away one after another, and the intervention of the police made her suspicious of this seemingly kind and gentle friend, and she went to find the truth in her own way.
After watching "Nurse of Conscience", it is not difficult to find that the focus of the entire film is on Amy Loren, rather than the more curious "Angel of Death" Charles Cullen. Director Tobias Lindorheim also admitted in an interview with the media: "I think it is more appropriate to present the story from the perspective of Amy Loren. This not only makes a sharp contrast between the two, but also allows people to understand How much fear and pressure Amy has endured in order to assist the police in solving the case. As a single mother with heart disease, she takes care of her children during the day and works night shifts in the hospital at night. The work is already very hard, and she can bravely stand up to maintain Justice, her story is also very worthy of attention. I hope people pay more attention to this hero than the murderer."
Stills of "Nurse of Conscience"
As the director said, the previously unknown Amy Loren is the protagonist of the film, and the audience also knows the murderer Charles Cullen through Amy's eyes in the film. As for Cullen's personal growth experience, for example, he lost his father when he was young, because he was the youngest of eight children in the family, he was bullied since childhood, and he attempted suicide by drinking chemical reagents at the age of nine; another example was when he lost his mother at the age of 17, dropped out of school to join the United States In the navy, he was often bullied by his comrades, attempted suicide many times, and was sent to a mental hospital for treatment; his ex-wife decided to divorce him because he couldn't stand his strange behavior, such as abusing pets; He used drugs improperly, but it didn't work out in the end... These are the backgrounds that make Charles Cullen Charles Cullen, which is barely touched on or even mentioned in the film.
Therefore, the director's so-called desire to let the audience see a sharp contrast between the two characters cannot be established. Because the audience, like Amy, sees more of his relatively normal or kind side. The roles of these two roles in the film are also different, and only when the scales of the two roles are balanced can they complement each other. How can you highlight Amy's greatness as a mortal hero without showing Cullen's complex background, bizarre behavior, and mental instability?
Stills of "Nurse of Conscience"
On the one hand, the film's failure lies in the lack of portrayal of Cullen's character, and on the other hand, in addition to showing Amy's greatness, it also wants to touch on other themes, but it turns out to be too shallow. For example, the line of perseverance in pursuit of the murderer by the police regardless of the power of the local parliament, the barriers between police departments, and the pressure of the hospital is completely superfluous. As for showing that the hospital is ignoring human life in order to protect itself, it is half-hearted, but even the most fundamental shortage of American medical practitioners has indirectly caused Cullen's crimes to be buried for many years. The social problem has not been touched.
Stills of "Nurse of Conscience"
The director of "Nurse of Conscience", the Dane Tobias Lindorheim was hired by the screenwriter. " and other masterpieces. However, paradoxically, the script adaptation of "Nurse of Conscience" did not involve Lindorheim. I don't know what kind of considerations Netflix had.
While hopes for a killer biopic or an ordinary nurse vs. killer thriller are doomed to fail, the two Oscar winners did a decent job -- even if it's not "acting" at all, especially Jessica Chastain's performance as a nurse suffering from a heart attack. It's a pity that limited to the quality of the film itself, neither Jessica Chastain nor Eddie Redmayne will be able to win an Oscar nomination for their respective roles.
