In December 1973, two members of the Provisional IRA arrived at a house in West Belfast and told the man who came to the door that their car had crashed into his. He left the house in his slippers to see what had happened, and was bundled into a waiting car. His wife and two daughters never saw him again; for seven years, they had no idea whether he was dead or alive.
The man was called Thomas Niedermayer; he was a German who had come over to Northern Ireland to run a new electronics factory in 1961. The story of his kidnapping, and the terrible impact it had on his family, is told in this gripping documentary. It’s hardly a spoiler to say that Niedermayer ended up dead: the name of the film refers to how he was buried, in an unlovely woodland used by fly-tippers. Directed by Gerry Gregg, the film focuses on Niedermayer’s granddaughters Tanya and Rachel, who grew up not knowing what had happened. But a shadow hung over their lives nonetheless: as children they were warned that no one in their family lived to be over 40, and when they were girls, their mother took her own life, as her own mother had done, 10 years after her husband’s funeral.
The film interweaves interviews with archival material that does a decent job at situating the kidnapping in a historical context. Some contributions are more valuable than others – Niedermayer’s glamorous former secretary provides much-needed cheer, but there are irritating pops of psychological analysis, too, where experiences such as trauma are “unpacked”. The film also identifies a clear villain: the Provisional IRA, particularly its hard-man Brian Keenan, who masterminded the kidnap.
At times, in truth, the film-makers overplay the sadness of the story: plangent music wells up; the camera slowly pans over a suicide note. But the dignity of Niedermayer’s granddaughters, their resilience and compassion, are deeply moving; the film skilfully shows how brutal acts rarely happen in a vacuum, but reverberate for many years, their darkness passed down the generations like a curse.
• Face Down is released on 11 August in UK and Irish cinemas.
• In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978
