The Stranger (2022) is an Australian crime thriller movie that follows Mark, an undercover cop, who develops an intense relationship with a murder suspect in order to gain his trust and obtain a confession. The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
An undercover detective, Paul, befriends Henry on a bus and, after getting close to him, decides to introduce him to Mark for work so that he can restart his life.
Henry, who is a Person of Interest in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of James Liston, is approached by an undercover agent investigating the case under the alias Mark.
The detectives launch an operation in which they introduce Mark as a member of a criminal organization that can relocate people, erase their histories, and offer them a way out.
To restart his life, Henry decides to join this organization and work for them.
Mark asks Henry whether he has previously served time in prison. Henry initially denies it, but then admits that he served two years in the NT for assault.
Mark pays a visit to the operation’s controller, Detective Sergeant Cross. He instructs Mark not to allow Henry into densely populated areas and requests that he be further isolated.
However, since physical surveillance is not permitted in remote areas, Mark will be unprotected and unobserved aside from the recording equipment installed in his car.
Detective Cross warns him that the entire operation is dependent on Mark getting closer to him.
Meanwhile, another team of detectives, Kate Rylett and Graham Ikin, tracks down the movements of Henry Teague and pays a visit to Mary, Henry’s relative, who he claims he was with the day of the abduction.
Detective Rylett finds out that senior police officers considered him an unlikely suspect at that time because he did not drive the boxy black vehicle seen by numerous witnesses at the scene.
The conclusion was that there was insufficient evidence and time for him to have abducted the child and returned home by 5:30, as he claimed.
Detective Rylett discovers that his vehicle’s forensics test results confirm that there is no physical evidence of any other presence in the vehicle and gets frustrated because they have nothing on him.
Mark drives Henry to Victoria and introduces him to John, their employer, who is actually another detective. When John forces Henry to reveal his real name, he discloses that he changed it years ago.
Henry’s colleagues inform him that his name will be given to a police contact, who will conduct a background check on him because they all need to be cleared to work with John.
Henry is alarmed about what will happen to him after revealing his true name, but Mark convinces him to relax.
When the detectives look up his real name, they discover that there are no assault records in the NT under Henry Teague, because they were filed under his former name, Peter Morley.
Henry abruptly vanishes and calls Mark, saying he’s with his girlfriend and will come back in a few days. The detectives decide to give Henry one last push before he actually flees.
Soon, Detective Rylett discovers that Henry’s alibi was fabricated and that he was not with his relative, Mary, at the time of the abduction.
The Stranger (2022) ending explained in detail:
Why does Henry confess to his crimes?
Henry learns that a court order has been issued for him at the Queensland coroners’ court as they have new information on the case. John summons Mark and Henry to discuss the situation.
John threatens Henry that if he continues to be dishonest with them, he will be cut off from the organization and reduced to nothing.
Henry has no choice but to be honest if he wants to continue working with them. When John assures him that he will assist him in getting rid of the evidence, he finally confesses to killing the boy.
How do the detectives locate the deceased victim’s body?
After hearing and recording Henry’s entire confession, the detectives decide to reconvene in Queensland to determine whether or not an arrest will be made, and the undercover operation will continue.
Detective Cross poses as a professional cleaner hired by the organization to ensure that the police don’t find anything that could be used against John. He asks Henry to walk him through everything so he can assist him.
Henry reveals that he did not park his car under the bridge, but rather behind it, at his old church. He covered the boy with grass and branches after killing him and left him there. Later, Henry leads Mark and Detective Cross to the location where he killed the boy.
Do the detectives find evidence against Henry?
Since Henry believes that Mark and John are helping him, he leads them to the old church where he killed the boy. However, once he arrives at the scene of the crime, all of the other detectives surround him and arrest him.
Police officers scour a large area in anticipation of an extensive search in the Queensland floodplain, but they are concerned that flooding over the last eight years may have removed any remaining evidence.
They gather volunteers and police officers to search the 4 acres of forest area, guided by the forensics team and eventually discover the evidence.
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