As disturbing as it might well be, serial killers seem to occupy a position of fascination within a sizable minority of the US population. Infamy breeds idolisation, often spawning a succession of magazines, books, TV programmes, films and an innate desire to know ‘why’. Ted Bundy is undoubtedly one of the most famous. He eventually confessed to the killing of 30 young women and girls, but the number is likely much greater. His final years are captured in No Man of God.
Theodore Robert Bundy (Luke Kirby) is sentenced to death by electrocution in 1980. While submitting a number of appeals from prison, he eventually agrees to disclose the details of his crimes. However, he’s noted for his hatred of the FBI and love of playing games so only rookie agent Bill Hagmaier (Elijah Wood) agrees to take on the challenge. Over a series of months and years, the pair build up an unlikely bond, but will the murderer reveal his secrets before the death sentence is enacted?
No Man of God is a curious film which approaches Bundy from an unusual angle; empathy. Not in the sense of understanding why he committed such heinous crimes but trying to comprehend what it feels like to be him. Much of the attraction of the case to the general public was his charm, and in Kirby we have a willing vessel. It’s this relationship with Hagmaier which makes Amber Sealey’s drama so enthralling. No Man of God is a fascinating study of evil through the eyes of an ‘innocent’.
No Man of God is in US theatres, on demand and on digital from 27 August.
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