This is weird: I really liked the movie I watched, even though I was put off by the “leading man.” And it’s a documentary, so that’s kinda personal! And yet, After the Murder of Albert Lima is as interesting to watch as you could possibly want. I couldn’t pause it for a second.
Paul Lima’s Dad was killed while trying to legally settle a debt owed to him by a family in Honduras. As the title suggests, the trip did not go well – Mr. Lima’s murder was solved rather quickly. The problem was getting the killer convicted and put in prison. I’ll leave it to the film to reveal the byzantine process of justice in Honduras – from payoffs to incompetence to the fact that you could quickly get yourself killed by asking too many questions.
Paul decides to hire two bounty hunters and head down to essentially kidnap the killer who has escaped justice for so long. He has no shortage of plans, which range from cockamamie to impossible to very dangerous, but the bounty hunters are game, even cocky about their abilities.
But then the threesome arrive in Honduras, after much build-up, to discover that they are not ready for this – and this is where I decided that I could absolutely keep watching, even though Paul LIma is an unsympathetic guy. Yes, he tragically lost his father when he was 20, but the bumbling sleuthing our hapless trio undertake becomes funny. Yes, I laughed out loud. The doc is absolutely entertaining.
So, what’s my problem with Paul Lima? The poor guy has dedicated everything to finding justice.
I think it’s because he is always aware that the camera is rolling, and always calibrating his “performance.” At times, he even seems to be directing the film on the fly. One of those guys who is always “on.” It’s only because he’s in virtually every frame that it gets to you. Us old timers continue to miss docs from the days when the camera was a fly on the wall, and the subjects were blissfully indifferent to it.
But I couldn’t look away.
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