Television: The Serpent

[roquefort]

1 hour ago, clivebaxter said:

 

1. He craved fame and notoriety 2. He thought he was too smart to be charged as he was there before on fake passport under another name, he did not think the gf confession would be known about.

I thought a bit too much back and forth on the time line and over acting on the part of the Dutchman.

I agree about the timeline, the constant switching between years and countries became very confusing and detracted from the telling of the story.

 

The Knippenberg character was way OTT and seemed to have had a cigarette surgically implanted in his mouth. Also I think the portayal of Sobraj was too one dimensional. The actor played him as a sinister control freak the whole time, which he obviously was. But he must have had another side to his character to charm all those young people into accepting what they did from him, and that didn't really come across at all.

[Donga]

I've read Richard Neville's excellent book (Neville stayed with Sobhraj in prison to get the material) and more fictional The Serpentine, after staying with Sobhraj for two nights at his expense in Rawalpindi in 1976 before he drove on to Bombay and was subsequently arrested by Sergeant Gupta.

Fascinating guy, who had already done most of his killings and was on the way back to India after visiting his Mum in France. He wanted to forge my carnet (passport for vehicle) as I still needed it theoretically for Pakistan but it was much more of a requirement for driving through India, where I'd just come from in my $500 kombi I bought from an ex US army guy in Kathmandu. He'd driven it from Germany to north Africa and on to Kathmandu.

Sobhraj flagged me down on a main road and explained he would pay for meals and air conditioned accom (yay) for me and my car crew, while his printer mate would try get my carnet forged. Sobhraj knew a few printers but none of them could do it in the time frame he wanted.

When we parted ways he gave me a blue sapphire for my trouble. I only realised who he was a year later when I saw a story in Time magazine. Enigmatic dude who spoke a number of languages, got a degree during his years in custody earlier (troubled teen) and practiced karate each morning, was black belt.

My brush with a serial killer ????

Edited April 12, 2021 by Donga

[roquefort]

1 hour ago, Donga said:

I've read Richard Neville's excellent book (Neville stayed with Sobhraj in prison to get the material) and more fictional The Serpentine, after staying with Sobhraj for two nights at his expense in Rawalpindi in 1976 before he drove on to Bombay and was subsequently arrested by Sergeant Gupta.

Fascinating guy, who had already done most of his killings and was on the way back to India after visiting his Mum in France. He wanted to forge my carnet (passport for vehicle) as I still needed it theoretically for Pakistan but it was much more of a requirement for driving through India, where I'd just come from in my $500 kombi I bought from an ex US army guy in Kathmandu. He'd driven it from Germany to north Africa and on to Kathmandu.

Sobhraj flagged me down on a main road and explained he would pay for meals and air conditioned accom (yay) for me and my car crew, while his printer mate would try get my carnet forged. Sobhraj knew a few printers but none of them could do it in the time frame he wanted.

When we parted ways he gave me a blue sapphire for my trouble. I only realised who he was a year later when I saw a story in Time magazine. Enigmatic dude who spoke a number of languages, got a degree during his years in custody earlier (troubled teen) and practiced karate each morning, was black belt.

My brush with a serial killer ????

 

Very interesting account. It must have been a shock when you discoved the full story.

 

From your first-hand experience of meeting him, would you say his portayal in the movie is a good reflection of his personality?

[Donga]

3 hours ago, roquefort said:

 

Very interesting account. It must have been a shock when you discoved the full story.

 

From your first-hand experience of meeting him, would you say his portayal in the movie is a good reflection of his personality?

Bearing in mind I didn't know he was a serial killer when I met him, I've just watched the first episode and have the following comments: 

 

1. They certainly found an actor that looks like him.
2. The portrayal is somewhat simplistic as they are focusing on his twisted psyche. They haven't delved into his upbringing, feeling like an outsider growing up in France as an Asian mixed blood and his crimes before he started selling gems in Bangkok. I recall he stowed away on a ship when he was young, and was discovered in Aden and taken back to France.
They do show him as somewhat elegant and sophisticated which we saw as well. He was 8 years older than us.
2. I knew him as Alain. He was charismatic, confident and seemed switched on. He practiced with his numchuka very early on both mornings. He wasn't like the young Europeans we tended to meet. We didn't smoke cannabis on that part of our journey, and weren't into other drugs anyway, though I did buy some speed from a boat vendor on Lake Srinigar haha. So he would not have perceived us as hippies per se, with the vehicle and trying to help him.
3. Alain told us he had some items stashed in his car for India, watches and radios I think, that he planned to smuggle and sell in India for a profit then buy gem stones that he would bring back to Europe. 
4. I accompanied him the first night when we visited a printer and he was jovial, but also hard headed in trying to get the guy to let Alain's mate, also a printer apparently, use his equipment to develop a fake carnet from my one. I recall the Pakistani printer exclaiming when we first arrived, "you drive so fast Alain". They apparently met up earlier that day, before Alain drove to Lahore and then back to Rawalpindi. It was just over 300 kms and there were no freeways then. He had a nice Citroen. Co-incidentally or otherwise, I had a bad stomach the next day, and my mate, Roger accompanied him as I was pretty crook. I tend to think it was a co-incidence as had intermittent stomach issues ever since a boat trip down the Irrawaddy a couple of months earlier.
5. The second morning he settled the hotel bill for our two rooms, thanked me for trying to help him and gave me the blue sapphire. We never kept in touch haha. 

I'm looking forward to the rest of the series and here's a quick read of the man and his crimes..  https://hamarajammu.com/the-true-story-of-charles-sobhraj-the-serpent-the-bikini-killer-strange-unexplained-mysteries/

Edited April 12, 2021 by Donga

[sandyf]

On 4/12/2021 at 4:19 PM, RocketDog said:

Ok, good info. I don' know much about Kodi, but it seems complicated to me.

Thanks for the info.

A perception that comes from pre builds, people trying to be too clever.

Best to install the program yourself from the Kodi website. Once you get to grips with how to install an addon it is fairly straightforward. I only use 2 addons, Exodusvpn and Seren.

I also subscribe to Real Debrid which provides full torrent search without needing the protection of a VPN, about $40/year. Just like watching any normal TV arrangement.

[Rawairat]

Great story most likely spruced a bit for popular consumption, but I enjoyed the series.  The French couple in my humble opinion were crazy brave, especially the woman, I'd have gone as far away as possible. 

[clivebaxter]

On 4/14/2021 at 4:49 PM, Rawairat said:

Great story most likely spruced a bit for popular consumption, but I enjoyed the series.  The French couple in my humble opinion were crazy brave, especially the woman, I'd have gone as far away as possible. 

They still live in Thailand but not together.