Dirty bars, half-dead drinkers and brutal serial murders: Netflix has a notorious German thriller that focuses on disgust in a unique way.
The Golden Glove has no mercy. Not with its characters and certainly not with us viewers. The shocking study of the milieu surrounding serial killer Fritz Honka (Jonas Dassler) has lost none of its disturbing power since its theatrical release in 2019. The thriller is available to stream on Netflix.
Serial killer thriller on Netflix: This is what The Golden Glove is about.
In the dreary city of Hamburg in the 1970s, the bar “The Golden Glove” is a gathering place for all kinds of losers: unemployed people, prostitutes and ex-Nazis drink themselves senseless side by side. Among them is the disfigured laborer Fritz Honka, who uses the bar primarily to meet women.
However, four of the women never return from these meetings: the sexually frustrated and choleric alcoholic Honka kills them in his apartment, mutilates the bodies and hides the remains in the attic. It is only by chance that the police get on his trail.
The artistic disgust makes The Golden Glove unique
Director Fatih Akin could have approached the true story from many sides. However, the result is a work of incredible coldness: at no point does the film feel sorry for its characters, all of whom have been buffeted by life. There is no moral authority here; the camera seems to watch the brutal murder of Honka’s victims with apathy.
Accordingly, some critics felt that the film celebrated misogyny and disgust (via SRF ). Indeed, the film refrains from making any judgments and shows Honka’s life and actions as if the camera itself were an alcoholic in a stupor: unmoving, helpless, without a moral basis.
