Marc Meyers
My Friend Dahmer

The story of Jeffrey Dahmer, a serial killer held responsible for 17 murders between 1978 and 1991, is somehow part of American history, just as other serial killers in the last century have become "historic" figures, starting from true celebrities like Charles Manson. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his father was a researcher in the field of biology, while his mother was a typist and suffered from serious psychological issues. Little Jeffrey grew up in a troubled social environment and began from childhood to adopt typical "disturbed" behaviors such as vivisecting dead animals and collecting their bones in a small makeshift laboratory he set up behind his house. His story has been the focus of attention and depicted in documentaries and films (among these, "Dahmer" directed by David Jacobson and starring Jeremy Renner, 2002, should definitely be mentioned). After his arrest and during the trial, Jeffrey took full responsibility for his actions and admitted he didn't know what had driven him to commit those crimes, but he accepted his sentence with a certain relief, as if this, and only this, would finally prevent him from continuing to kill. He was murdered in prison in 1994 by Christopher Scarver, an inmate convicted of murder and suffering from schizophrenia.

This film directed by the almost debutant Marc Meyers tells us a piece of Jeffrey's life from a very special perspective. "My Friend Dahmer" is based on the direct testimonies of artist and illustrator John "Derf" Backderf. Derf was a schoolmate of Jeffrey. Although he and his friends couldn't be considered true friends of Dahmer, they established a sort of connection: Jeffrey's behavior was often over the top, and his "exploits" led Derf and the others to dedicate a kind of fan club to him. Furthermore, Derf portrayed Jeffrey in his drawings, which later (years after Dahmer's death) formed the basis for the graphic novel "My Friend Dahmer" from which this eponymous film was adapted and was presented at the Tribeca Film Festival last year.

It might have been a form of ridicule that Derf and his friends practiced towards young Jeffrey, a boy who clearly showed to have serious social and relational issues. Apparently, it might seem not, but they never had a true friendship: in the end, no one really talked to him, no one saw or recognized his state of isolation as problematic, and when school ended, Dahmer was left completely alone. We cannot say that Derf and his friends had specific responsibilities in this case. All of us within our micro-community, be it school or university, the soccer team we played on as kids, the workplace, encounter "lonely" people. We are not obliged to do anything for them. They are next to us, yet somehow they are very distant. It's a feeling I know and it made me feel somewhat close to this boy who, when he finally found himself alone in the world, acted like a frightened animal, unleashing all his suffering and all the hatred he harbored mainly towards himself in an uncontrolled manner, regressing to the worst manifestations of animal life. Perhaps the choice to have him played by such a popular young man as the Disney starlet now rising in Hollywood, the class of 1995 Ross Lynch, a perfect model of a "winner," is the most symbolic and impactful choice possible and gives additional and deeper meaning to a film directed with great skill, where Lynch himself proves to be a capable actor deserving of great attention.