Manhunt: Unabomber review — Netflix's true crime series is low key but high on impact

Manhunt: Unabomber will always remain the unsung hero of streaming true crime drama due to the presence of Minhunter. There is no doubt that all the technical expertise and vintage David Fincher atmosphere makes Mindhunter a more engrossing show, but it lacks the one thing Manhunt: Unabomber wears like a badge of honour – heart. This is one of the few shows where you end up empathising with a serial killer; but the fact that he is so relatable is rather startling, and something to ponder over. [caption id=“attachment_4322611” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Poster for Manhunt: Unabomber[/caption] The Unabomber case became the biggest news bit in ’80s and ’90s America when people began to receive mails that contained a bomb which exploded when opened. The police sketch of a possible suspect — a thin man wearing sunglasses and a hoodie — became a pop culture phenomenon of sorts, appearing even as T-shirt prints. The man, who became known as the Unabomber, began cryptically communicating with the cops just like the Zodiac killer. It was insane stuff, so when it all ended there was a collective sigh of relief — and predictably, disdain for the person responsible. What Manhunt: Unabomber does, however, is subvert your expectation of a police procedural. The show, directed by TV veteran Greg Yaitanes isn’t interested in keeping the identity of the Unabomber a secret until the final reveal. Usually in films and shows like this, the killer’s identity is unmasked by the cop and the cop essentially serves as the eyes and ears of the audience. In Manhunt: Unabomber the perpetrator has already been caught and in prison — and we’re also immediately given the identity of the person. This is clever, self aware writing because the Unabomber is too big a personality for the layman to not know about — so to keep his reveal for the end would not have been the apt narrative choice. What we get here is a rather striking exploration of the person — Ted Kaczynski — played by Paul Bettany with a stunning amount of soul. Kaczynski is a tragic character, and yet another instance of the higher strata of society turning a perfectly good man into a deranged monster. How the switch is flipped is best left for you to discover, but it’s rather disturbing to note how the switch flip continues to operate in this day and age under different forms. There are plenty more Kaczynskis out there perpetrating crimes because their thought process has been manipulated and altered. Bettany does well in rendering the quiet rage simmering within his chest, his eyes being a window to an endless void of nightmares and disillusionment with humanity for what it did to him. There are moments when the show gets tropey — like the parallels between the investigating cop (Sam Worthington in his best performance, although that’s not saying much) and Kaczynski, the fact that they both have the same goal – for people to listen to them, and the cop being so obsessed with the Unabomber case he forgets to pay attention to his family. But it’s all done so well it’s easy to ignore the clichés, and the short eight-episode run time feels precisely calibrated for the content. The low key, non fussy, simple blocking style works in favor of the show – the visuals being a reminder that not much has changed from the late ’90s except for cell phones in people’s hands. Even though it is a Netflix acquisition, Manhunt: Unabomber was originally financed by the Discovery Channel and its success bodes well for more original programming with this sort of low key approach. From an artistic standpoint, one thing worth deliberating over is whether making Kaczynski this empathetic in the show was the right thing to do, because this is what he wanted – for people to understand what an intelligent yet heartbroken and lonely person he was. He wanted people to be in awe of him and his struggle, and that’s what you feel for him by the time the end credits roll. The other thing to note is in the social media age everyone gets his flowery ramblings heard, and if articulated fairly well it’s easy to amass a cultish following of Retweets and Likes. Kaczynski may be in jail at the moment but his spirit continues to operate outside, channeling the anger of the young and wayward who are constantly manipulated by information bubbles.  Manhunt: Unabomber is currently streaming on Netflix India