In the hands of other directors this film would have been a moody, rainy, greyscale gore thriller, focusing on the brutal murders and rapes of women a la Seven. But writer/director Ruskin decided to go in a different direction, one that doesn't titillate or use brutality of crimes against woman for shock appeal. Instead the film Boston Strangler becomes about something far more endemic.
Boston Strangler focuses on two women reporters who through their own tenacity, uncover the failings of both the police and the press of their day in solving a string of murders. The film keeps the vast amount of the violence off screen, focusing instead on the investigation and the systemic barriers to capturing a killer who targets women as well as the barriers that keep investigators of their gender from truly doing their job.
But what is truly interesting about Boston Strangler the film is it's central thesis which is far more insidious that just who is the Boston Strangler. *Spoiler* The film does an effective job of pointing out that this is about the pervasive nature of male violence against women, the film even goes so far as to say that "men kill women" and that violence won't stop by catching this killer... or killers. While the true killers have never been proven in the real world, the film explores the likelihood that there were many killers, motivated by different factors from revenge, to covering up their own infidelities, to succumbing to their own evil perversions. That it was men and the culture around men in this highly gender segregated time, that committed the crimes and bungled solving them. That is took a female investigation to get even close to the truth, one that was willing to explore the roles men and women played in this culture at that time.
The film drags a bit in the middle and uses some of the historically accurate harassment that "lady reporters" faced as a way to keeping the tension ratcheted. While not perfect, Boston Strangler finds its fascinating conclusion and becomes something unexpected.
Boston Strangler
Starring: Keira Knightley, Carrie Coon, Allesandro Nivola, Chris Cooper, David Dastmalchian
Writer/Director: Matt Ruskin
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