The Child I Never Was

Name: The Child I Never Was
Genre: Biography, Drama, Crime
Released: October 8, 2004
Duration: 86 min
Rating: 59

2004

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Mixed or average reviews based on 5 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

Strand Releasing | Release Date: October 8, 2004

Summary: A fictionalized biography of German convicted child-murderer Jürgen Bartsch.

Director: Kai S. Pieck

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Crime

Runtime: 86 min

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Critic Reviews

James Wegg

How can such difficult subjects as under-age sexual activity, brutal beatings and murders be presented in a way that doesn't alienate the audience, yet still capture the horror and circumstances in a believable manner? The solution? Assign Kai Pieck to the task. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Ken Fox

By the film's end we feel neither sympathy nor, oddly, total disgust for this most loathsome of killers. We simply begin to understand, and perhaps that's achievement enough. Read full review

Ned Martel

The film is airless and mirthless, but it's hardly worthless; in fact in many ways it's more purposeful than the snuff-film scenes of an average "CSI" episode. Read full review

Akiva Gottlieb

Kai S. Pieck's debut feature finds a plaintive, compelling route to the pathology of 1960s German child-killer Jürgen Bartsch. Read full review

David Stratton

Though Pieck is to be admired for the rigorousness in telling this chilling story (on what looks like a near zero budget), the film itself remains resolutely unlikable. Read full review

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John

Apr 25, 2006

Superb film on dementia; excellent acting, especially by young cast.

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