The Park Maniac (originally titled Maniaco do Parque), directed by Mauricio Eca, is based on the true story of the serial killer named Francisco de Assis Pereira, who wreaked havoc in Sao Paulo in the late 90s. Mauricio Eca doesn’t dwell much on the psyche of the killer, but instead, he focuses more on the perspective of a journalist named Elena, and through her journey, we get to know the kind of professional conflicts she deals with and how she questions her own morals while investigating the case. So, let’s find out what happened in the film, how the Park Maniac got caught, and what choices Elena made in her professional life.
Spoiler Alert
How did Elena identify Francisco?
Elena was a journalist who worked for The Worker’s Newspaper, and she was the one who had given the nickname “Park Maniac” to the serial killer whose identity was then unknown. Elena met a woman named Luciene, who;s sister had been murdered by the Park Maniac. Now, Luciene was probably the only person who had heard the voice of the killer. Luciene’s sister had called her from a phone booth and told her that she had met a man who had offered to pay her to model for a cosmetic brand. Luciene felt that there was something fishy about the man, but her sister didn’t listen to her. The deal made by the killer was quite lucrative, and more than that, he had a really good way with words, which made it impossible for the victim to say no to him or even entertain the possibility that his intentions wouldn’t be right. That day, Luciene’s sister went missing, and later, the law enforcement authorities found her body in the state park. Elena got to know from Luciene that the killer was an excellent skater, and he had come there wearing his roller skates. Elena’s sister, Martha, who was probably a psychologist, had told her that according to general studies, every psychopath learned some specific skill. So, Elena went to the arena where all the skaters generally met, and she got her hands on a video in which each and every member who was part of the group introduced themselves. Elena again called Luciene to her office and asked her to listen to the voice of every skater in the video and tell her if she recognised the man whom she talked to over the phone. Surprisingly, Luciene did find one skater’s voice to be similar to the killer’s. Now, I say surprising here because Luciene got that call a couple of days back, and remembering the voice and then identifying it seemed like a challenging task to me. But nonetheless, Elena went and told the police about her breakthrough, and then she published an article with the picture of the killer in her newspaper.
How Did Francisco Get Caught?
The real name of the Park Maniac was Francisco de Assis Pereira, and once he saw his face in the newspaper he fled from Sao Paulo and hid in a place named Itaqui on the Brazilian-Argentinian border. Meanwhile, Elena went to meet Francisco’s mother, Maria, who supported her son and told her that he was not a bad person. Even after the news of him being a serial killer made headlines in every single newspaper and channel; Francisco’s mother believed that her son was meant for great things and that he would prove his mettle one day. She called her son a dreamer, and Elena felt disgusted after hearing her speak. Maria showed no sympathy towards the victims, and she stayed in her own bubble, which was going to burst eventually. During that period, Elena also met Francisco’s ex-partner, Taina, who stayed in Diadema and was lucky enough to survive Francisco’s wrath. Taina gave Francisco’s diary to Elena and she also told her the kind of man he was. She told her that he had this aggression inside him and how at times he transformed into an extremely violent and abusive person. She told him how he took out his frustration on her. Taina felt lucky to be alive, but she wanted to do something for the victims, and she wanted the authorities to catch Francisco as soon as they could. Francisco was living with a fisherman (real name João Carlos Villaverde) in Itaqui, and one day, the latter saw the newspaper and realized that he had given refuge to a dreaded criminal. The fisherman informed the authorities about it, and soon Francisco was put behind bars.
Why did Elena choose not to publish Francisco’s story?
In The Park Maniac’s ending, Francisco made a very weird request from the prison authorities. He told them that he would only give an interview to the woman who gave him the nickname of the Park Maniac. Elena knew that this was her chance to make the psychopath confess to his crimes. She went to the prison, and first, she massaged his ego because she had read in his diary how desperately he wanted to become famous. But that tactic did not work, as Francisco was not a stupid man, and he was not going to be influenced to testify against himself so easily. Francisco told Elena that he was being falsely accused, because of which he had had to go through a lot of suffering. Elena couldn’t hold herself back. The man had no remorse or guilt whatsoever for torturing and killing so many women. Francisco wanted Elena to print his story on the cover page. The man wanted to become famous. He wanted the world to know about his deeds. But Elena was not ready to give him that satisfaction. She knew that he was such a deranged man that if she printed his story on the cover page, he would consider it his victory. Elena went back and told her superior, Vicente, that her story was going to be about the victims. Elena knew that being ethical in journalism was not an option. When the world was busy glorifying the murderer, Elena wrote about the victim’s perspective. Her story didn’t make it to the cover page, but she knew that she had done the right thing. Francisco was sentenced to 268 years in prison, but since under Brazilian law, the maximum length for life imprisonment cannot exceed 30 years, the man will be released in the year 2028.
