Here at FandomWire, we review the new Netflix film Will, and the article is spoiler-free.
When you get right down to it, the new Belgium Netflix film Will (original title is Wil) is confounding beyond comprehension. Director Tim Mielants presents a movie that’s simultaneously a fascinating character study about salvation and extremely unpleasant to watch. This is not stylized horror; it’s a drama but gratuitous at points.
Mielants does not make apologies for it or excuses, nor should he. Will presents evil in a way that makes the audience decide how much they can stomach. It allows the viewer to see how much they can take regarding their moral compass. It is very similar to what the titular character decides: whether he should offer salvation to others or himself.
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Netflix’s Will Synopsis and Review
Stef Aerts plays the titular character, Will, an auxiliary officer in Antwerp, Belgium, on the cusp of being occupied by Nazi rule. After a briefing with their police commissioner (Jan Bijvoet), he and his partner Lode (Matteo Simoni) are stopped by a Nazi officer needing an escort to a local apartment building. It’s not clear what the officer wants, but it’s not to harass a local Jewish family.
When the officer takes the man into the back of the apartment, a mother frantically asks if she can take her daughter to the neighbors. They allow it; however, shortly after, a man tosses the girl back into the hallway. They come running back into the apartment. The Nazis arrest the mother and child for their insolence.
During the dark and stormy night, Lode stops the officer from being executed. Wil then saves Lode’s life by shooting the Nazi in the head. They open the utility hole cover, stuff the officer inside, and leave. Later, Will goes to retrieve the officer to dispose of the body for good, but when he pops open the metal cover, the body is gone
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Will is a fascinating yet unpleasant character study
Will was written by Mielants and Carl Joos and is based on the novel of the same name by Jeroen Olyslaegers. Their film has several moments that may be etched in your mind long after the credits roll. This can be credited to culturally significant storytelling with emotional resonance, and the lead character has significant depth.
What makes Will work is that we start to see how the Nazi regime starts and begins before implementing Hitler’s master plan. Will is the vessel and lens through which we experience the impending doom, feeling the ominous mood change around us. Will and the viewer take in perplexing and horrifying visuals due to the director’s eye for behavioral juxtaposition.
In one scene, Will’s boss and friends begin burning down a local synagogue. We see attacks of women and even children chasing their local Jewish neighbors, attacking them with sticks and giggling with glee. The soul-crushing experience of watching officials load kids onto trucks because of their religion to places unknown. Even Belgian cops were killed for objecting to the direction.
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Is Will Worth Watching?
Wil is worth watching because of Stef Aerts’s performance. One can argue that there are only three types of characters in Mielant’s film: the evil, the victims, and Wil, someone stuck in between, in a sense. The evil characters are portrayed as inherently evil. While some may argue that makes them one note, what we are witnessing is their evolution earlier in the story than the main character.
The fact is that Will is an evolving character. When we find a character like this, it’s usually someone evil finds their soul. Even a curmudgeon is finding his own beating heart. He tries to do the right thing and fight his own hunger to embrace the evil hand that is offering salvation. The issue is that what he watches are images of grotesque and offensive
Will has to make that choice. We experience the murder and torture of his colleagues as he experiences them. That makes Wil such a morbidly captivating character study that is not easy to sit through.
What did you think of the Netflix film Will? Let us know in the comments below!
You can stream Wil only on Netflix.
Grade: 7/10
