In Marseilles, the discredited and alcoholic Detective Schneider (Daniel Auteuil) hijacks a bus and forces the bus driver with a gun to drive him home. He is arrested by the swat force and his washed up career in the police department practically ends. Schneider is removed from the investigation of a serial-killer that is committing hideous crimes against women and assigned to a bureaucratic work in the night-shift in the precinct. Through glimpses from his recollections, Schneider recalls the tragic accident that killed his daughter and left his wife trapped to a bed and life support system. Meanwhile, the sick criminal Charles Subra (Philippe Nahon), who killed the parents of two girls many years ago, convinces the probation committee in the prison that he has found God and is regenerated and may be released. Justine (Olivia Bonamy), one of the daughters that survived, has never overcome the trauma of her loss and is worried with the possibility of the freedom of the criminal. When Schneider discovers the identity of the serial-killer, he finds also the corruption in the high command of the police, and he decides to go to his last mission on Earth in his descent to Hell.
The impressive "MR 73" is a bleak, sordid and realistic detective story from the writer and director Oliver Marchal, who is also the author of "36 Quai des Orfèvres" and "Gangsters". This movie is a dramatic story, describing in a slow pace the descent to Hell of a detective after a tragedy caused by his love affair with a colleague. The police department is filthy and corrupt, and we see that these qualities apparently are worldwide, and not only in Third World countries. The performance of Daniel Auteuil worth an Oscar nomination and the conclusion is the only moment of hope along the whole gruesome tale. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "MR 73 – A Última Mussão" ("MR 73 – The Last Mission")
