So Help Me God

So Help Me God is an intimate and somewhat absurd documentary about the charismatic Belgian judge Anne Gruwez. The judge zips through the streets of Brussels in her small, blue car with a sunroof, before entering her office in the courtrooms of the capital. Within the Belgian judicial system, Gruwez is something of a celebrity – known for her witty, yet biting remarks with in whatever situation may come her way. Gruwez is not someone who is easily rattled, whether meeting with child killers and prostitutes in her office, or while investigating months-old corpses in the field.

Directors Jean Libon and Yves Hinant offer an excellent portrayal of the unique personality of Anne Gruwez through their fly-on-the-wall approach to the documentary. It’s quite remarkable how close they get to Gruwez herself and the court processes that are otherwise just vaguely referred to in the media. Even though their subject might seem unorthodox in her way of dealing with things, using humour and sarcasm in her interactions with even the most hard boiled criminals, she never appears disrespectful. So Help Me God is a profoundly humane film, which will tickle your funny bones in situations you might otherwise never have imagined laughing.

Yves Hinant and Jean Libon are Belgian filmmakers. In their home country they are best known for their work on the popular documentary TV series Striptease. So Help Me God, their first feature film, premiered at the Spanish film festival in San Sebastian in the fall of 2017.