fluff-bomb Reviews

Battle in Heaven (2005)

Battle in my mind whether I like it or not.

[6/10 · 10 February 2015]

Battle in Heaven is a difficult one to rate, and describe. It's like Marmite, you either love it or hate it. Or, it just confuses the hell out of you. Unfortunately I was subjected to the latter.

Marcos, his wife and his son are a working class family who kidnap a baby for ransom money as they struggle to survive on an income derived from selling cake in a subway station and Marcos' long term security job for the local General and his daughter, Ana.

There are some strange plot holes: You never find out precisely why the couple stole the baby, or why it died. Why does Ana cry when giving Marcos fellatio? How/why does Marcos spontaneously die at the altar after the pilgrimage? Why does Marcos leave the flat, wet himself, then return to stab Ana?

However the film does redeem itself by some use of artistic cinematography. But it's hard to compliment much else for this film. The use of sex scenes help it achieve the 'art' feel but do not help to move forward the plot.

The acting is amateur at best, poor use of expression makes it feel like one is watching robots perform.

In conclusion it can be said that although this film captures the 'realism' of Mexico, it is supported by shoddy acting and a poorly written script which restricts plot development. I feel like this film is unfortunately a lot of wasted potential.

6/10

In a Glass Cage (1986)

Definitely not a film to watch with the family at Christmas

[7/10 · 22 November 2014]

First and foremost, this film is not an easy one to watch and comes with a trigger warning for anyone sensitive to themes of rape and child molestation. -Spoilers-

This film is centered around the character of Klaus, an ex Nazi doctor who has presumably escaped Germany after the war. We learn from the offset that Klaus has an animal-like lust for sexually torturing and killing young children. Eventually the mental strain of this becomes too much and he attempts suicide, jumping from the rooftop of his home. Unsuccessful, Klaus is confined to a giant iron and glass lung which serves as his life support as well as his prison, as he is paralysed from the neck down.

His wife, Griselda, employs a young man, Angelo, to help care for Klaus. Unbeknown to her that Angelo was previously groomed by Klaus.

We learn that Angelo has taken on the role of Klaus, sexually assaulting and murdering young children to appease him. He does this whilst also grooming Rena, Klaus' 7 year old daughter.

-All in all when reviewing this film you need to remove your thoughts of the content and focus on how it was executed. The heavy use of blue tinting and poor lighting makes the scene feel cold and surgical in appearance. This, coupled with the portrayal of Angelo's almost emotionless character makes the film feel so much more intoxicating to watch and leaves you also speechless and cold inside as we are forced to sympathise with a paedophile. It's a film that reminds oneself of just how primal and horrific human nature can be.

The ending of Rena climbing on top of the glass cage that Angelo now inhabits gives a chilling feeling of how the cycle of abuse continues, yet creating an ending that could still be argued as ambiguous.

7/10