Educational Media Reviews Online

This two-hour foreign film explores several damaging aspects of Romanian police detective Florin Lespas, who inserts himself into a hard case concerning two hotel fires that no one else seems to care about. Two people are dead and as crime thrillers go, the viewer would expect the usual and unexpected in this kind of genre.

It becomes evident that Lespas is a damaged loner and relentless in his pursuit of justice. His interview with a suspect is telling in the following sense, when Lespas realizes that this potential suspect cannot write. This scene speaks to an ongoing issue regarding education. The suspect indicates that he has been working since his childhood and had no time for school. As an empowerment right, education is the primary vehicle by which economically and socially marginalized adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty and obtain the means to participate fully in their communities. They are, most often the very people who become prime suspects and targets in a criminal investigation.

So as not to reveal more details, Unidentified is a bleak character study of an imperfect and damaged man who is intent on visiting harm to those he perceives as criminals. It is also an indictment of our global judicial system that protects law enforcement agents via the misuse of police power, discrimination, police corruption and murder.

Awards:
Warsaw International Film Festival, Special Jury Award for Directing and Acting; Gopo Awards (Romanian Oscars), Best Actor and Best Screenplay

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