Danish director Mads Brügger and Swedish private investigator Göran Björkdahl attempt and solve the mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjöld. In 1961, United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane mysteriously crashed, killing Hammarskjöld and all of the crew. The documentary offers the possibility of the assassination of the outspoken dignitary. 

During their investigation, they uncover a crime far worse than killing the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Though the documentary might sound appealing, it is long and arduous to get through because the filmmaker lacks substance to make the movie enjoyable. 

However, Cold Case Hammarskjold had its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and is the winner of the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award. 

The documentary uses two black women as secretaries, typing Brugger’s script or narrative. For the audience, this is quite confusing because the timeline is convoluted with two different typists. The filmmaker doesn’t explain why he does this until the end of the movie.

He tries to add humor to dire situations, which fall flat and add no meaning to the story. 

Around midnight on September 18, 1961, a small plane flying over a remote part of Central Africa crashed, killing all 16 people on board, including then-U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld who was en route to negotiations for a cease-fire in the ongoing Congo Crisis. 

The accident was officially blamed on pilot error. However, rumors have persisted for decades that it was a well-planned assassination. But who wanted Hammarskjöld dead, and why? 

With the twists and turns of an elegantly plotted murder mystery and the intrigue of an international espionage thriller, Cold Case Hammarskjöld winds its way through three continents and almost seven years of investigative reporting. Director Mads Brügger and his colleague, private investigator Göran Björkdahl, follow a series of ever-more-startling leads, red herrings, misdirection, and dead ends. They uncover evidence that puts them on the trail of a story more bizarre than they ever imagined. 

From Zambia and South Africa to the U.K., the U.S., Russia, Spain, and beyond, Brügger conducted an estimated 50 interviews with witnesses both central and peripheral to the tale, leading him into a continually widening maze. Known for his offbeat journalistic style, the filmmaker deadpans, “At first, I just enjoyed the idea of two middle-aged Scandinavian men setting out to uncover a conspiracy to kill the Secretary-General of the United Nations. What could go wrong there?”Using vintage news footage and photos as well as exclusive interviews and archival documents, Brügger unveils a journey in which answers only create more questions. What is the meaning of the mysterious playing card found intact on Hammarskjöld’s partially scorched body? Why was an unassuming young marine biologist murdered? What did witnesses see in the sky that night? Could it all be an elaborate hoax perpetrated by an eccentric, highly skilled propagandist? 

 “For me, Dag Hammarskjöld was most of all a ticket to all the things I really enjoy,” Brügger admits in the film. “Tracking down Belgian mercenaries, telling tales of evil men who dress in white, the ace of spades found at crime scenes, rumors about secret societies. This is why I went along for the ride, not really knowing where it would lead. For almost seven years, Göran and I worked a murder case. But we never dreamed that we were on the verge of discovering a kind of horror that would put my shenanigans to shame.” 

Their discovery mildly shocking but has enough push to keep you interested in the movie without giving all the details of the storyline. The documentary falls flat in the end because the story doesn’t seem to arch fully but stays flat throughout the movie. Perhaps, South Africans will find this movie more exciting.