Review of The Limehouse Golem (2016) by Jeff P — 16 Dec 2017

A typical crime mystery with a gut twist at the end. The supporting characters are bland and as well known as the viewer that may be watching the movie. The importance is Lizzie, to tell her story and to feel sympathy for her and to give hope at odd ends that she will receive a happy ending, hoping the same as the Inspector John Kildare, Dan Leno, and John Cree do in the story.

And so it is not the twist of being tricked that the story led the viewer astray as a typical crime movie, but rather that the viewer fell victim to the same sympathies as the three men. The story opens with Lizzie being accused of murder, but instantly the viewer thinks otherwise and ho-hum, she'll be found innocent by the end of the story, but let's see how we got there typical crime drama.

It's the 1800's and her name is Lizzie. What jumps to mind when thinking 1800's Lizzie? Lizzie Borden, likely. The story straight tells viewer who the murderer is, then leads the viewer astray, just to come full circle back to the beginning of the story where she is actually found guilty, instead of innocent.

And for the cherry on top, Lizzie kills even after her death. Aveline Ortega gets hanged, Kildare and Dan look at one another, knowing they both know it was Lizzie, and do not forget the viewer is the third that knows, and that is hammer where the viewer and characters in the story are suddenly at one, not an aha intellectual moment, and not the typical sadness emotional moment, but a unique emotional hidden moment that the story built up within the viewer for this final act of the story.

How blind we stay even after we have been shown the truth.