Dante 01 (2008) User Reviews

This was a brute, dark drama. . .but the End was Huh?

[Rabh17 · 6/10 · 14 March 2010]

I pulled this one out after reading someone's review here.

One-- If you pull the DVD via Netflix, you CAN change the language to English, although I am sure that you will notice some of the lines just fall so flat it hurts, but if (like me) you are not a native French Speaker, you will just have let those moments pass. Just try to ignore long complicated lip movements when the actor gives a three-word answer. Plus the Dubbed English is can be extremely FLAT and lacks emotion.

The Film is dark, clinically brutal and coherently themed. The scene is an orbital Psychiatric station around some unknown planet named Dante 01. The patients/inmates are all hopelessly criminally insane. And here arrives another patient with a cold-eyed research doctor who begins to conduct not-quite-kosher nanotech psychonueral experiments on the inmates. On board the station already are two resident doctors, one of whom has a dark secret of his own.

The Sets are well thought through and definitive. You will feel the close, tight confines of a Space Station and a sense of vulnerability both to space itself, and empathize with the vulnerability of the inmates who seem to be caught in a maze of compartments wherein they are treated more like lab animals than patients.

The problem-- and the reasons I rated this a 6 --is the story line. Saint-George's history & origin is vague and not explained. Maybe in the French version there is some side explanation-- but not in the English dub. But if you ignore that omission, the story did move with a rough-edged deliberation that is part intelligent prison-drama and Medical Science Gone wrong, an interesting combo.

The new Doctor commences experimental injections on the prisoners with some rather icky internal graphics and outward pain and suffering. At the same time, Saint-George is manifesting some strange 'power' that has an origins with whatever the heck happened to him in the past.

As you watch the movie you will be settling into watch what happens when Saint-George's power manifestations begin to go head-to-head with the Doctor's twisted medical experiment. THIS was the script and the imbued storyline for the first two thirds of the movie which makes this movie different from MOST of the Sci-Fi out there.

Here is where I downgraded the movie down to a 6. Either they ran out of Time or Money or the good graces of the Producers-- because the ending was just slapped onto the end of this movie just for the sake of being able to say: "The End". One of the inmates acts of his own and accesses the station's system to send it powering out of orbit, then locks the controls. Well. . .he IS criminally Insane. And That's what Criminally Insane people DO.

Okay. . .except here's where the Movie ran out of Time or whatever because it goes from being cerebral Sci-Fi and becomes suddenly Brainless.

Because it turns out that the only way to stop disaster is to get to the Manual control which is only accessible INSIDE the Prisoner quarters? Oh. . .that makes Sense.

And it gets better-- Once INSIDE the Prisoner quarters, you then have to open a conduit filled with BOILING HOT cooling fluid and swim down a corridor to this little isolated room where the EMERGENCY CUTOFF is?

Oh that makes even MORE Sense than before. I know and recognize the Mad Engineering Schematic gimmick. Emergency Switches that are ALWAYS located on the OPPOSITE end of a facility or Ship and the ONLY way to get to it is through a tunnel filled with Toothy Alien Monsters? And the only things that makes this gimmick work is that the male viewers usually get to ogle the scantily clad female heroine screaming alongside the hero as they fight their way to aforesaid 'Emergency Switch'.

That doesn't happen here, though. So put your beer down.

Instead one of the Inmates VOLUNTEERS to dive INTO THE BOILING OIL and swim to the switch. Think 'Deep Frying'.

Okay, that's rich! But it's still workable-- if he were to don a spacesuit. . .They ARE on a Space Station after all. And he IS Insane?!?

But NO! They rip and cut INSULATION, douse it with water and wrap the fool up from head to toe in foamy strips that will only SUCK UP BOILING OIL Cooling fluid as ANY IDIOT will tell you it would. Think 'French Fry'.

But at least they give him strap on Goggles. . .which come off while he's in the boiling oil.

I will say that the fellow gave the Director and the audience some heart-wrenchingly convincing SCREAMS before flicking the switch and then dying. Bravo! Bravo! Then the Next Scene has Saint-George outside in. . . a SPACE SUIT! And at this point the movie patently STOPS making sense. Although the Director made an attempt to hypnotize me. . .I think.

It didn't work. The End STILL made no sense.

But I found the first 3/4 of the movie very memorable, nonetheless. Unfortunately, the ending turned what could have been a truly epic, cerebral Sci-Fi film into a classic with Literary undercurrents into an interesting Saturday night Flop. I say watch this with your Sci-Fi buff friends and have your own Vote competition.

Lambert Wilson's talent was wasted here. WASTED.

Brilliantly conceived, directed and edited, but ultimately disappoints

[banapaulo · 6/10 · 1 May 2008]

Got the chance to see this at the Sci-Fi London last night in a packed cinema. As a big fan of City of Lost Children and Delicatessen I was suitably excited. The film establishes itself from the off with a very confident and distinct visual style and sense of (the deep, dark void of) space.

A man arrives at a colony circling the fiery planet Dante, his name and history unknown. The ship is a base for psychiatric research on a handful of criminals, held as guinea-pigs and cut off from outside contact. The new man is seen as a messiah by some of the convicts, a trouble-maker by others, as the psychiatrists carry out routine and risky genetic experiments with their DNA.

The film maintains a heightened feeling of tension and claustrophobia that is almost migraine inducing but transfixing. The editing is first rate and the film is well acted (Dominque Pinon, a Caro and Jeunet regular, appears). Unfortunately, the plot keeps promising to go somewhere but ends up disappearing down a black hole of messianic symbolism, and the dialogue is fairly bland and perfunctory. The violence is also almost sickening at times, though this may not bother some.

This is a very confidently directed film that is clearly the unique vision of one very creative visualist, I only hope Caro could have applied his touch to better material and not surrender to pretensions of the religious and philosophical. I'm not suggesting that no film should try to tackle these things, but this film doesn't deliver enough of anything else. Many will call the film deep but ask them what it's about before you believe them.

Worth seeing, though. Definitely deserves better marketing, but I wouldn't want to be the one to do it.

Experimental Movie

[pmdawn · 6/10 · 28 August 2008]

I'm usually a very 'nice' reviewer. The kind that usually overlooks some faults in movies because the 'experience' is truly what matters to him. So, 'tis with a heavy heart that I say; I have to agree with the majority of reviewers here.

This movie feels like it was obviously cut short because of money or deadline issues, so it is painfully frustrating in that sense. The story is interesting, and the visuals and sound are astounding, although very influenced by older sci-fi movies (Alien 3 and Resurrection come to mind), but the religious overtones are rendered abstract (at best) by end of the movie.

This is a beautifully well-made movie with awesome visuals, but it has to be taken as an experiment, just like inside the story. Or as an experience, if you prefer.

That's because essentially, the last part of the movie was completely lame. And by lame I mean obviously rushed, incomplete and unfinished. Similar to "The Objective" in that respect, but even worse.

So allow me to present this movie in another way - as an experimental movie. As an audiovisual spectacle for the senses. And as such, Dante 01 is a marvel.

Having said that, the average casual moviegoer will probably not appreciate it in that sense and thus ask for a refund.

Yes, Francois, There Is A Space Santa Claus...

[loogenhausen · 30 November 2011]

I really wanted to like this film, since I've had good luck with French flicks lately as well as being interested in the neat little cast assembled here. Among them are Lambert Wilson (the Merovingian himself) and Dominique Pinon (Delicatessen, Amelie, etc...). Mix in a little Cube, throw in a dash of Alien 3 and sprinkle in some Powder for good measure and you have the undercooked hodgepodge of Dante 01. Good sci-fi is hard to come by these days, mainly because I think it's the most high concept genre of film as well as the hardest to execute really well. Unfortunately, despite some very interesting ideas and good production values, it doesn't add up to much of anything when it was all over. Wilson's main character has almost zero lines in the film and isn't really even a main character. If you're going to have your main character remain essentially silent, that's fine, but for the love of Odin please make him interesting. I completely understood what was going on, but it just didn't register with me as much as I was hoping it would. There is a sequence just before the last shot of the film with Wilson outside in space that was just so agonizingly excessive that I was swearing at the screen for it to stop, which I hardly ever do. Maybe you'll have a different opinion, which is fine. But for me, no dice.

Visually stunning, but feels like half a movie

[udar55 · 5/10 · 15 May 2009]

So, there is this space prison filled with bald criminals...heard this one before? Corporate scientist Elisa (Linh Dan Pham) arrives on a prison ship with plans of using the felons as guinea pigs for a new DNA altering serum. Also arriving on the shuttle is new prisoner St. Georges (Lambert Wilson). Quickly thrown into the tiny populace, the prisoners notice something is not right with the new inmate when he begins miraculously healing other inmates.

Marc Caro - co-director of the DELICATESSEN and THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN - makes his long awaited return to feature film-making but, unfortunately, this seems a step back. The film is visually stunning but the religious allegory heavy plot doesn't do it any favors as Caro seems to be mimicking 2001 and SOLARIS. This moves along at a pretty deliberate pace until an ending pops up that will make you scramble for the DVD menu, thinking you've inadvertently skipped a chapter. It literally comes out of nowhere and you can almost hear the money men pulling out of the project (reportedly last minute financial woes forced Caro to change his original ending). Interestingly, the US DVD has a 30-minute "making of" extra and co-writer Pierre Bordage mentions this was a project originally developed for Alejandro Jodorowsky. There is a great cast including DELICATESSEN lead Dominique Pinon and DELLAMORTE co-star François Hadji-Lazaro.

A movie that was half finished

[josola31-271-984233 · 5/10 · 2 November 2013]

I expected to watch this movie for a long time. It is not easy always to get access to French or other non English speaking movies. I knew about the bad comments but the director previous work convinced me of this one.

The story is interesting and the idea of a possible messiah in a jail is very compelling. The main character never talks too much and you never know exactly what was in his past. That is a good ingredient that several westerns exploited very well.

The beginning promises a psychological thriller in space like Moon from Duncan Jones or the creation of a religious cult like the one existing in Alien 3. Unfortunately we don't get any or that, only the promise and the glimpses of what it could have been.

The end is confusing to say the least and the director appeared to rush to end the movie. Some of the news in the trivia section may explain why this movie appears to be an unfinished work. Cutting the budget in half changes whatever the director had originally in mind. That is a shame because the movie had potential.

What a disappointment

[vzap · 2/10 · 11 September 2013]

I used to be a fan of Caro, being french and grown up in the 90's, and being a visual effects artist. I can't believe how bad this film come back turned out to be! I watched it all as respect for the cast, which is good, but to no avail... Poor story line, vague plot, even vaguer religious connotations. The references to Solaris really made me angry, being a fan of that film (the original Russian version, Tarkosky's). What nerve using such a mater piece with such superficiality! It does look like a production butchered film... but to be honest I found the production design bad, that mix of retro and space technology simply doesn't work here. And the visual effects and artistic direction very poor and repetitive. OK it seems like money was scarce... but also seems like no real effort was made. What a shame...

Still, waiting for more Caro, this had to be an accident!

Space Fiction loves to discover and re-discover Secret of Immortality over and over again

[CihanVercan · 7/10 · 28 December 2008]

The whole story goes by in a space shuttle which is being used as a medical research center, far away from the earth. 1 organization chief, 1 psychiatrist and 3 guardians are in charge of 7 convicts. Those convicts are chosen haphazardly from the world. They are all average human beings; some of them are murderers some of them are psychopaths. As the story progresses a genetic engineer woman comes to the space shuttle for a confidential experiment. While she was arguing with the psychiatrist on the case of conscience of making experiments over convicts' bodies, a new convict is been delivered to the space shuttle who is very strangely sick, dumb and hold on... No identity! This is Hint-1, he is identity-free. When I complete all the hints I found out from the film, I will explain them within the conclusion.

Hint-2: One of the mad convicts began believing that this sick, dumb and unknown mankind is the Messiah sent from God; and he gives him a name after a saint. Hint-3: By time, convicts fall apart into two confronting sides and turn against each other. 3 of them believe that the strange man came for help, the other 4 think that he brought only curse and hatred. Hint-4: After she gives a start to genetic experiments, the genetic engineer woman injects the immortality virus into some of the convicts' bodies via their operator genes of the cellular membranes. Right after she delivers them to their rooms, just before she is going to watch their behavioral change; our strange guy shows up and takes the immortality virus out of their bodies and injects it to himself. He does this while everyone is asleep. Thus he makes everybody thinks of him that he can heal people, and even he can vitalize a dead body. Hint-5: Soon everyone becomes believers of him. After a while the space shuttle loses its route and is dazed by the magnetic flow of a planet; then it comes to a crucial point to enter an ultra energy sphere. Our strange guy puts on an astronaut suit, jumps out to space, depletes all the energy of the sphere, then he sends the space shuttle back to Earth. During the moment he was depleting the energy of the sphere using the power of his spiritual immortality, the space shuttle turns upside down, forms "T" shape which references the crucifixion of Christ.

When you watch the end, you might think that the strange guy might be the Messiah as the mad convict guessed from the beginning.In fact who is this strange man? He has been delivered to the space shuttle without nobodies' knowledge. Is he a spy of a world-based confidential organization(like CIA or NSA) or is he a missionary of a secret and forbidden futuristic project(like discovering the secret of immortality). Either way no computer, no population data-based software would be able to sniff out his identity. But which one is right? How do we know? Do we have to take a guess? Do we have to write a new scenario out of it, just to understand it? Directing and writing of this movie completely fails at this point, leaving viewers' minds confused. This is not a proper story-layering structure. The second hint I found out indicates that viewers have to believe that the strange man is the Messiah, since his name is credited as Saint Georges, officially. If this guy is the Messiah how come does he carry the same virus that the genetic engineer woman wants to inject to everybody? Is this a coincidence or a logical mistake? Plus, if he is the Messiah why does he need to carry a virus in his body to heal the wounds and to vitalize the dead bodies? At that point director Caro contradicts himself. The third hint I found out reminded me the life of the 3 basic prophets who brought the scriptures of the 3 main religions, somehow! Also at the forth hint remember that only prophets be able to heal people.

Rather than the final of the movie, the moment we understood that the strange prophet has been sent there to prevent others from discovering the secret of the immortality must have been the actual final.

Despite the fact that the best technical aspects are failed, sounds and visual effects are enviable. The music score kept our attention in the movie. Art direction and cinematography was alright. In overall, plot was so effectively original for a feature film; seemed to have some inspiration from Russian "Parajanov's The Last Spring" with Tarkovsky essences, and carrying along within the well-known Alien genre space- horror cinema language it was not hard to watch.

Dante01 is the next and futuristic step of its genre. This is going to spread so much inspiration for cinema lovers and sci-fi movie makers in future, if it could be marketed in the right fields. Pay a very good attention, rewind as much as you need for details, and turn off the lights while watching. It's the only way to catch the joy of it.

Disappointing

[xnrat · 3/10 · 3 August 2008]

The movie starts off OK with very nice visuals. But then the story sets in and it all goes downhill. It's not the fault of the actors, they deliver good performances. But the story is pretty bad and while the dark space station sets a claustrophobic mood at first, it starts to get annoying at some point. If you read other comments someone probably wrote "a movie for the thinking man", as some moron always does. Don't let that fool you. This movie is not very good and there is not much to think about. The basic idea, a space station for secret research, is not exactly new and neither is "homo homini lupus", man is a wolf to man. If that is actually new to you, I recommend the book "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein and not a crappy science fiction movie.

What this movie sums up to is the washed up back story of House on Haunted Hill, wrapped in a messianic blanket IN SPACE. If you like that, fine, suit yourself. But any thinking man should go watch something else.

Not bad at all.

[ElijahCSkuggs · 7/10 · 11 January 2009]

Any fan of the imagination rich City of Lost Children and Delicatessen should know that both were helmed by Jean Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro. Jeunet has gone solo and done magnificently for himself with films like A Very Long Engagement. And now Mr. Caro steps into the director chair alone. For fans of said above films, getting the chance to see a new film by either is like asking me if I would like some Mountain Dew. God, yes!

The picture revolves around a space station which is being used as psychiatric prison that consists of a population of 7 prisoners and a team of 5 employees. At the beginning of the film a new scientist and a mysterious new patient is brought aboard the ship. With these two the station begins unraveling from it's normal routines and begins heading into violent and unbelievable territories. The crew begins arguing with one another because of the new scientist's ideals and orders, while the prisoners are freaking out due to the new prisoners nature and abilities. With everything coming to ahead the prison is beginning to fall apart.

From what I can gather from the other reviews this film is pretty much hit or miss. I'm on the side who dug it. The film more than anything is very familiar in the sense that you know it's directed by Caro. It's stylish with great camera shots and it has an atmosphere that oozes scifi prison. And with familiar actors from past Jeunet and Caro films like Mr. Pinon, there's no complaining whatsoever in the acting department. The writing itself is also very good. It's well thought out, interesting and intelligent. Caro and Jeunet are always great at delivering good dialogue and this is no different.

My issue with the film lies within the story itself. The film plays mostly like a mystery. The new scientist is doing experiments on the prisoners and you obviously know it's pretty inhumane, but you don't (me, I didn't) ever grip exactly what's going on with the treatments. And with our mysterious prisoner, you do by the end understand who he is and what he's about (kinda), but up to this point it's very up in the air. And there are a few scenes when the scientists are talking among each other where the movie begins to drag a little bit. Nevertheless, the movie plays out in an intriguing fashion with more than enough things going on that kept this viewer happy and entertained.

I see some pretty petty gripes some people are having with the film concerning symbolism and that it felt like it wasn't long enough. I do agree with the length issue because it seemed the movie would have benefited with a tad more explanations. But the symbolism issue is solely based on that person's issue with beliefs. That stuff bothers you, then you'll have an issue. Doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Dante 01 overall is a unique, interesting film with a fantastic look and feel, but it does feel like it could have been much better. With that said I enjoyed it and this flick should definitely be seen by all fans of Caro.

Potential Masterpiece that turned out to be big disappointment

[pascaloetterli · 5/10 · 6 October 2014]

Too much mysticism and symbolism destroys a potential masterpiece. Marc Caro took top actors and put them in a very promising environment: a lonely space station with psychotic prisoners. But then, things go downwards. Too many repetitions of the same emotions, unexplained narratives, personalities that are at once interesting but without proper development. The end is very bad too and not even a budget cut by 50% can explain that. The movie wanted to be intelligent, make You think, but the mixture does not work, they do not need science fiction elements to show messianism and the topos of shouldering the burden of evil. Dante 01 is one big disappointment. Any other similar production like "Event Horizon", "Resident Evil" or even "Ghosts of Mars", "Mutant Chronicles" or "Doom" are more fun to watch.

5/10

Fantastic movie.

[demicore · 10/10 · 3 January 2008]

I had the pleasure of watching this movie yesterday and wasn't disappointed. I had been waiting for Caro's next work with great anticipation and I consider this movie to be a success on every level, with the only disappointment being that it didn't seem to have been released in many theaters in France, I hope it'll fare better in other countries.

This movie isn't an epic by any means. The story takes place in a psychiatric facility orbiting around a burning planet deep in space, and populated by little more than a dozen people, so the scale is pretty intimist. The patients of this space hospital are all death row inmates who have agreed to serve as guinea pigs for behavior-changing treatments in order to win a few years of life. The routines of the whole compound are disrupted when a new patient with intriguing abilities (Lambert) arrives, escorted by a new doctor (the beautiful Linh Dan Pham) ordered to test new treatments on the inmates.

You will soon realize upon watching the first few minutes of this movie that everything that happens in it is a metaphor, and that's all I will say about that in order not to spoil anything.

I have nothing but praise for all the elements of this movie. The actors are top notch (especially the inmates), as well as the direction, the art direction and the story, which all together manage with great success the most important aspect of any movie of that kind: to suspend our disbelief. The immersion was complete and I have not for one second questioned the how's and why's of the setting. The movie didn't feel too long or too short, and the ending was satisfying and brought a sufficient amount of closure while still leaving many aspects of the story open for personal interpretation.

Overall a great experience that I would recommend to anyone.

Mysterious Virus Affects Convicts in Space - Pseudo Religious Sci Fi Movie

[julessimmond · 6/10 · 15 March 2009]

The whole story is set in a space shuttle which is being used as a medical research centre, far from the earth with a psychiatrist and a few guardians in charge of 7 convicts. Some of them are murderers some of them are psychopaths. As the story progresses a genetic engineer woman comes to the space shuttle with a secret experiment.

A strange, mysterious new convict is delivered to the space shuttle who is very sick, dumb, bald and has no identity....

One of the convicts begins believing that this sick, unknown man is the Messiah sent from God; and he gives him a name of a Saint. The convicts fall apart into 2 confronting sides and once things start breaking down the film becomes very enjoyable.

I love strong character films. Only trouble is that it is slightly confusing when the genetic engineer woman injects the immortality virus into some of the convicts' bodies. just before she is going to watch their change and our strange mute guy shows up and takes the immortality virus out of their bodies by eating it.... creepy

I felt this was a really enjoyable film but if you don't like Pseudo Religious meanings in a film this is not the one for you- I felt like there was going to be a monster but there wasn't so if you try not to expect some big monster reveal or aliens you'll enjoy it more! Enjoyable overall though and great acting and characterisation.

Complete fiasco - Caro would have done better not to release this

[whoever978 · 1/10 · 2 June 2009]

(this is spoiler-free) I count "Delicatessen" and "La Cite des Enfants Perdus" as some of my favorite movies of all time. Interestingly, I didn't know Caro had directed this and watched it by accident. I therefore didn't have any expectations set, but in theory it should have been a good surprise.

Well, it wasn't. I heard the movie was released with zero press and that Caro disowned it, blaming the editing. Not surprised one bit - it's a terrible movie indeed and I'm flabbergasted someone like Caro could be behind it.

The storyline is laughable - leave your brains at the door please. The ending in particular is just pathetic - it's as if they had run out of ideas and came up with the most ridiculous deus ex machina of all time. I was left gob-smacked for all the wrong reasons.

Worst of all, and inexcusably, Dante is a visual failure. Several bits of footage are reused at times, stock-footage style. It's very noticeable, and incredibly grating towards the end. The whole thing has the feel of a cheap afternoon TV movie despite the decent CGI.

The actors are actually quite good and do the best they can to salvage this disaster. However, they can only do so much and frankly, there's very little to salvage.

Avoid.

Uncomplete movie

[bladou · 11 August 2008]

Considering Caro's past work in the movie field, one can really look forward to see his latest film as director : Dante 01.

Well I have to say I was for one really eager to do so and as I watched the movie, even as a full open minded viewer, some scenes were feeling just ... incomplete. The thematic is quite fine, a deep space station used as a psychiatric facility is exiting knowing the visual taste of Caro and the cast is well done too, but in the end every way you look at it the movie never fully unfold his potential.

The story, as mysterious it can be, fail to be emotional or understandable at any level which is really disappointing considering you can't connect to any character at all - especially not with the main one - having a feeling of emptiness despite the solid material that could have been used in a much better way.

The budget isn't large for this movie, that's obvious and still the director pulled some extremely good shots and some solid acting while being uneven at times (considering the budget, I can only guess that some takes as to be done only a few times), still, beyond that there is nothing to properly think of. As said, the story was somewhat promising at the beginning ... and sadly looks still promising at the end, it's a tale with a slow beginning and no real end or ground to rely on - an etheral narration with some pretty visuals and scenes empty of meaning.

If I were to make a comparison, I'd pick "The fountain". They look alike in many ways, sharing a radical vision of movie-making and story telling but where the fountain kept me involved in the character development process and opened some thoughts, "Dante 01" just got me lost somewhere loosing the meaning of it's concept - or maybe I never got it in the first place.

Overall, the movie itself isn't bad and you can see it without regrets it's still a nice movie but it's nothing more and that is probably the most disappointing thing about it : you don't feel more than looking at an OK film. Now, I do hope Caro will be directing again and with a better budget and more freedom over his uncompromising style, making this one just a trial step for better materials next time.

Philosophy For Village Idiots

[netzwelter · 2/10 · 27 July 2008]

To say the only positive about the film first: the interior of the space station looks impressingly claustrophobic and some of the details in it are well thought. You will find nothing else positive in this film.

The prisoners do not have any relevant characters, you will most likely mix them up. It doesn't help in this case that all wear yellow prison uniforms and all have their hair cut off. They all have ridiculous names after historical persons or after persons from literature. Who ever came along to name a character who likes to eat and is very chubby "Moloch" ? Is that supposed to be original or what? Their leader is named Cesar, oh come on!

The space stations personnel isn't modeled any better. Just cut-out cardboard characters.

Moreover, there is almost no real story. The pace of the film is painfully slow. The new prisoner "heals" some of his fellows in a way that doesn't make sense at all (you have to call that "mystical"). Every time he does it, it looks exactly the same.

The most annoying thing about this film is that it tortures you with obvious religious symbols and gestures until even the dumbest viewer will notice it.

Avoid this film at any cost.

Christian symbolism anyone?

[surfcow · 4/10 · 26 August 2008]

Not a bad film, just not a good film. Started off strong, but ended poorly. A great first effort by the director - shows a lot of promise. The acting was pretty weak overall, but the material was thin. The production was pretty good for a cheap sci-fi.

The Christian symbolism was laid on so thick you could actually smell it. It wasn't even symbolism - it was iconography. Some christians and non-christians alike will find it offensive or tedious for that reason. It is hard to promote any given religion in a film without coming off lame.

Hope we see more sci-fi from France.

Thumb down, Caesar!

[apeternier · 3/10 · 7 August 2008]

OK, something in this movie is good: it features a very good stage designing and actors are doing their job pretty well. That's all.

The plot (very flat, slow and tedious) tries to sell some religious symbols and concepts (crucifixions, agnus dei qui tollis peccata mundi, Saint George and the dragon. etc.) with some science fiction recurrent topics. The setting is looking strictly like Alien I (for the closed environment space ship) and Alien III (for the space penitentiary concept and the bunch of baldy prisoners and prison crew). Computer graphics have been used for representing the evil thing inside prisoners, looking like a jellyfish (or again a first-stadium Alien). These animations have been used, reused and used again during the movie and look always the same, starting annoying the audience after a while. Characters' names sound ridiculous (Caesar, Moloch, Persephone, etc.) and look like a poor cultural-oriented try to mimic some classic elements from ancient comedies and poetry. With no success. There's no plot continuity between some scenes, mainly between the fore-last (sacrifice of Caesar) and the last one (with our hero jumping into the space to perform some kind of redemption of the hellish planet, like Jesus sacrificing himself to redeem humanity...). The last scene is also reusing some elements introduced in 2001 a Space Odyssey, like the Ligeti-like soundtrack and some psychedelic CG effects.

In conclusion: a poor film telling one more time the same story and using one more time the same clichés.

Visually stunning film over comes its messy religious allegory to be a nice way to spend 95 minutes.

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 18 January 2010]

A non-verbal prisoner, Saint Georges is brought to a psychological research station called Dante 01 because it is in orbit around a planet called Dante. The prisoner was found in all alone in a deep space transport. It is hoped that the facility and its clearance for new treatments will unlock Saint Georges' secrets.

This is a science fiction film that mixes science horror and religion into a visually stunning treat. In all honesty I'm not sure what the film means, or is suppose to mean but I think the film somehow works on some level. I think the films success is mostly as a grand mystery that carries the viewer along to the end because it spins out enough questions we want to know the answers to. Is it successful, not entirely. Certainly the religious allegory (one need only look at the names to see it St Georges, Moloch, Perséphone, Buddha, Charon) is painfully obvious and over worked which makes an ending that is both clear and unclear. The film also seems to be keeping a little bit too much to itself and I wasn't always certain what was what. But at the same time I really like this movie. It wasn't completely the same old thing, or perhaps even if it was the film looked stunning enough that I really didn't mind.

Personally I think the film is worth trying. It may not float your boat but at the same time I think there will be enough inside it to make you feel you didn't waste the money for a rental or your time.

A prodigious mess of a film

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 15 August 2015]

DANTE 01 is the bastard offspring of ALIEN 3, an unusual science fiction flick set on a prison ship fulled to the brim with bald criminals. This dialogue-lite story features a newcomer to the mix, played with kooky relish by Lambert Wilson (THE MATRIX RELOADED), who soon shows himself to have strange, Christ-like powers after an encounter with an alien race. Unfortunately for him, his presence on the ship soon leads to rioting and all-out anarchy...

This cautionary tale is an all-out religious parable in which subtlety is non-existent. It's also a very odd film and one which doesn't really have any entertainment value whatsoever. It takes the old, odd, bald guys from ALIEN 3 and doesn't really do anything with them except for having them act in increasingly weird ways. People like Dominique Pinon certainly look the part but they don't really have characters and the narrative seems to just shuffle from one scene to the next with no rhyme nor reason.

Annoyingly, the director is obsessed with inserting clumsy CGI effects into his film, effects which purportedly show some magical processes happening inside the human body, but these effects are extremely dodgy and the brief snippets of gore don't really add much either. The non-existent ending, in which the production team apparently ran out of budget so that they had to stop shooting, is a case in point of how frustrating this misfire is.

It would look great projected silently onto the back wall of a party

[alexander-978-692186 · 3/10 · 4 March 2021]

As a massive fan of 'Delicatessen' and 'The City of Lost Children', both movies often floated around my top ten list, I was eagerly anticipating watching Marc Caro's first directorial debut film 'Dante 01'. So it is with a heavy heart to have found the film to be relatively empty. The sets, performance, camerawork, soundtrack and design all had Caro's signature written all over them, masterfully creative and creating a wonderful offbeat world. It is just a shame the script wasn't there. It never really got off the ground; despite a few elements of potential developments, nothing ever eventuated, and the ending was highly anti-climactic. It would look great projected silently onto the back wall of a party to provide interesting visuals, but apart from that, I would give it a pass.

For thinkers and independent cinema lovers

[leprutz13-1 · 9/10 · 9 January 2008]

I saw this film in theaters today. Marc Caro his first movie directed on his own, actually, it is a truly intriguing film.

It all starts with the revelation of a space-base as a psychiatric prison ( ever heard of Alcatraz ), with very few mentally-ill patients and as well very few of the staff crew, which is near a deserted deserted planet which is to categorize as inappropriate to live on because of its burning temperatures.

The mystery of this whole movie begins with the entrance of two newcomers at the base. One is a new psychoanalyst I would say and the other one a mysterious prisoner whose origins are unknown. Ands this is exactly what the movie is about. he is referred to as a the help of god, by one of the convicts.

I do recommend the movie just for thinkers and to those who appreciate independent cinema. there is a total lack of the commercial type of editing or story. This movie isn't slow but could be for those who like Die Hard 4.0 genres. The direction above all is very studied, lots of different angles and a very good creation of the rhythm and psychotic style of the film.

Based on very philosophical means and very deep thinking into what we did to people in the past and we still do, you must pay fully attention to that one.

9 out of 10

sad work from a 90s awsome director-art dep

[surfisfun · 4/10 · 11 February 2019]

Boring.. DISAPOINTED! NOT RECCOMMENDED. WATCH is 90s work. maybe Jeunet is key for cinematography. darkly shot. not much for ambience that work for me, minimalist environment decoration- uninspired filming-direction I red that they run out of budget.

Confusing movie

[stefanozucchelli · 5/10 · 9 January 2022]

In a space prison with only six prisoners, a man with no past and name arrives. After twenty minutes we know that he is a kind of jesus with miracle powers and that that spaceship is full of crazy murderers and managed by people with no idea of what they are doing.

I wonder who chose the names because they were a lazy choose. The one who commands is Caesar and the one who destroy is Attila. I wonder why.

The end was so confusing and with so little explanation that i thought to have missed some piece of the movie but sadly was not so.

No Plot No Ideas No Salvation

[dreamstate · 1/10 · 11 September 2008]

I'm a big fan of Caro's earliest work (delicatessen), and I'm AMAZED by the pile of non-sense & bad acting in that movie. From the very beginning you're filled with an "off" voice speaking about deeeeep philosophy & pathetic dramatic context explanations "we were doomed from the start" "it all began at the gates of hell", this kind of crap. That doesn't help at all when you can't figure out what the story line. What was the purpose of putting Wilson is this facility ? The dragon thing ? The lights ? It's small small fairy tail garbage, dressed with the "off" voice (omnipresent) repeating "we had no idea who he was...or where he came from" Neither do we...Amazing sets do NOT compensate the shallowness of the actors (my GOD !!), the forced tragic features of the plot...without mentioning the last sequence of the film, when Caro thinks he's the new Kubric. He's not. One of the worst films in my life. And I've seen quite a few. I want my hour & a half of time BACK !