Side product is a new three-part miniseries on Czech Television. The creators describe it as a criminal psychological drama, a drama inspired by real events.
The team behind the series is quite important. The director is Peter Bebjak, who has considerable experience with similar topics – he has already worked on the series Justice, Mordparta, Innocent Lies, Kriminálka Anděl. Also worth mentioning is his mystery horror film The Rift (read the review). The script was essentially written by Jakub Režný and Aleš Preis as their first work. The camera was again directed by Martin Žiaran, who often works with Peter Bebjak.
Czech Television presents the series with the following words: With the help of illegal methods, can the revealed murderer be prosecuted? And are we really all equal before justice? The main character is detective Josef from the Ostrava homicide department, who is punished by an annual routine investigation of unsolved murders for using illegal methods to catch a brutal murderer. Thanks to this, he discovers the case of eighteen-year-old Eva. Twenty years ago, someone strangled her in her apartment. There are sixteen days left before the statute of limitations for the murder, and Josef decides to use them. His desire to find the killer does not prevent him from using methods that are again on the edge of the law.
You feel the aforementioned experience from the series from the first moment you watch the scene of the murder and the immediate steps of the detectives leading to the capture of the killer. Hand-held camera, appropriate music and fast progression of the story not only does not leave you breathless, but helps to get the feeling that the main character is simply a guy who wants to catch criminals… and the official methods are too slow for him. Of course, he’s a tough guy who isn’t afraid to give a blow or take it.
The first episode, which CT broadcast on April 28, 2024, very successfully presents the individual characters of the investigators, but also the inconsistencies in the procedures. Both legal and illegal ones. The viewer has to decide for himself what he considers to be right and what is not. Of course, there are still a lot of unanswered and open questions to leave plenty of room for further development.
The series does a good job of striking a current chord, when people feel the incompetence and slowness of state institutions. At the same time, they are calling for the tightening and speed of processes, but at the same time they are concerned about whether someone has abused and circumvented them. The creators also open up the usual issue where law and morality don’t quite go hand in hand. In such a case, is the individual entitled to violate the law and take responsibility? Even if his job is to oversee compliance with the law? And where will this journey take him?
Visually, the series lags behind foreign productions, and sometimes borrows something familiar. Add to that the fact that the given topic has been covered many times, so depending on how much you have “looked” you may have the impression that you have seen something similar before.
Sympathetic is the move on the goal, when the creators don’t mess with the viewer too much with a harsher and at the same time authentic approach and make him feel the reality. If you like darker Czech crime novels, you will like this one.
Side product
Rating: Cinema box 70%
- Genre: Drama / Psychological
- Origin: Czech Republic, 2024
- Duration: 2 h 52 min (episode: 56–59 min)
- Directed by: Peter Bebjak
- Screenplay: Jakub Režný, Aleš Preis
- Camera: Martin Žiaran
- Starring: Tomáš Maštalír, Martin Hofmann, Zuzana Stivínová, Pavla Beretová, Albert Čuba
- Where you can watch the movie: iVyszílá
