Cold Case Hammarskjöld

Cold Case Hammarskjöld is at its surface an investigative piece about the untimely death of former UN secretary-general, Dag Hammarskjöld. Hammarskjöld, as the story goes, died in an aeroplane crash near Ndola, on his way to meet with Moise Tshombe to negotiate a peace treaty. During his time as secretary-general of the UN, Hammarskjöld was able to do a lot in the way of forwarding African independence. However, as Cold Case Hammarskjöld points out, Hammarskjöld’s death was very beneficial to many private and first world entities, setting back African independence and allowing for the continued exploitation of raw materials from the country. Cold Case Hammarskjöld follows Mads Brügger and Göran Björkdahl in their quest to uncover the truth about Hammarskjöld’s death. The two discover a secret white supremacist, eugenics mercenary group operating out of South Africa with ties to Hammarskjöld’s death and correspondences with the CIA and MI5 regarding a Belgian for hire pilot in the air during the same time as Hammarskjöld’s death. As the truth is revealed a horrifying reality begins to surface, the modern world is much more sinister than it lets on, and many people will do anything to keep making money. Despite its heavy subject matter, Cold Case Hammarskjöld has a genuinely comedic undertone brought about by the personalities of Brügger and Björkdahl. The movie is suspenseful and direly important, but most of all it is a call to action that has reopened the investigation of Dag Hammarskjöld’s untimely demise.

This "documentary" investigating the death (i.e., likely assassination) of former UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold in a mysterious 1961 plane crash shamelessly blurs the line between legitimate journalism and cheeky speculation, with consequences that extend far beyond the demise of one individual. What starts out seeming like a valid inquiry into a long-unsolved mystery regrettably degenerates into a questionable spectacle that doesn't seem to take its own purpose seriously, prompting viewers to ask, "So what's the point of all this?" While the film does uncover what could be a horrific untold story if definitively proven true, the credibility of the information underlying such a possibility is undercut by a filmmaker who could ultimately just be jagging everybody's chain -- and with material that's no joking matter. And the problem with that is, should viable evidence ever surface behind the truth of these incidents, it's likely to be discounted by the travesty depicted here.