Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall

Kim Wall (Journalist) and her Partner Ole Stobbe threw a formal farewell party to friends and family for their decision to move to Beijing on August 16th. Peter Madison is an outlandishly mouthy hyperactive scientist who seems to support an apathetic mental torpor. Nevertheless, he convinces Kim Wall to pay a visit to his hand-made miniature submarine named UC3 Nautilus. 2 people, Kim and Peter leave the docks for a test drive on August 11th, (5 days before Kim and her partner Ole's move to Beijing) with the sub at around 7:00 PM (local time). Only one person, Peter Madison, returns.

The bizarre story follows his arraignment and imprisonment. Then a stupendous escape ensues in the MacGyver style from the prison. Finally, his twisted personality turns the court system into a media circus. Albeit none of his efforts enable him to attain his freedom.

At last, in 2020, Peter Madison admitted to killing Kim Wall. The Netflix documentary undertakes this raw and crazy story in style. It is Choreographed elegantly and coherently, a well-told dramatic chronicle.

"Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall" (2022 release; 2 parts totaling 126 min.) is a documentary about the brutal murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall. As Part 1 "The Crime" opens, it is "August 10, 2017" as Kim Wall boards the submarine which Danish eccentric inventor Peter Madsen has built himself. She is doing a piece on him for Wired magazine. The submarine does not return to shore, and before too long, the Danish authorities start looking for it... At this point we are 10 min into Part 1.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from Erin Lee Carr, a widely respected and award-winning documentarian ("I Love You, Now Die"; "At the Heart Of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal"). Here she looks back at the savage (and worse) murder of Kim Wall by Peter Madsen. This 2 part documentary is like Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde. Part 1 feels hurried and aloof, certainly as compared to last year's excellent Danish 6 part mini-series "The Investigation", which truly conveys the efforts by the Danish authorities to tie Madsen to the murder. Then, just as surprising, Part 2 "The Punishment" is an excellent assessment what drove Madsen to do what he did (something that is barely addressed in "The Investigation"). Frankly, I was ready to bail on "Undercurrent" after the disappointing Part 1. Glad I decided to ride it our. Boottom line: if, like me, you have seen "The Investigation", you will not miss out on much if you skip Part 1 of "Undercurrent" and instead you go straight to Part 2.

"Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall" recently premiered on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand and HBO Max, where I caught it. If you are interested in true crime documentaries, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion, although for those of you who have seen "The Investigation", I'd go straight to Part 2.

Exceptionally well made documentary on the disappearance and murder of an innocent journalist.

What starts out as a harmless interview and tour of a home made submarine with its owner, the story turns into one of mystery when only 1 person returns from what was supposed to be a short 2 hour tour out to sea.

The story of what happens is well told with the story flipping back and forth between interviews with different people so it keeps you guessing as to what actually happened. When the details finally came out I just sat there with my jaw on the floor asking why??

The details of what happened is nothing short of disturbing. The reason 'why' is as dark as it is evil.

I found this short 2-part documentary one of the best movies I've ever seen. It kept me guessing then knocked me out when it revealed the details of what occurred. The plot would make excellent material for a fictional, thriller movie - only this is true.

Highly recommend.

Could have been done with one episode. Way to many unnecessary cut aways. Felt like it was in slow motion. Could have been much less boring. Not much else to add but 150 character requirement.

Is worth seeing. Good documentary, but kind of weirdly felt like there could have been more and less. The more would have been as some others noted (spouse, boyfriend, escape, etc.). For me, the less would be the interviews where different individuals contextualize the murder into other issue areas. Not sure those were very inciteful and detracted a bit from the telling of a very real human tragedy.