Battle in Heaven (2005)
(Batalla en el cielo)
Country: MEX/BEL/FR/GER
Technical: col/1.78:1 126m
Director: Carlos Reygadas
Cast: Marcos Hernández, Anapola Mushkadiz, Bertha Ruiz
Synopsis:
In Mexico City a chauffeur and his wife have kidnapped a child and it has died. As the man grapples with his conscience about whether or not to go to the police, he commits adultery with his employer's daughter who has turned recreational hooker.
Review:
The director's static, objective shooting style is here at the service of a script so ellipitical as to the inner life of the characters, or even the events of the scenario, that the results could mean anything or nothing. What we appear to be witnessing is the action of divine grace on a man who has committed a tremendous wrong and who, even when he is at the point of giving himself up to temporal authority, commits another. On the other hand, it could equally be an ironic look at a society apparently governed by empty ritual - the unfurling of the flag, the annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Guadalupe.
(Batalla en el cielo)
Country: MEX/BEL/FR/GER
Technical: col/1.78:1 126m
Director: Carlos Reygadas
Cast: Marcos Hernández, Anapola Mushkadiz, Bertha Ruiz
Synopsis:
In Mexico City a chauffeur and his wife have kidnapped a child and it has died. As the man grapples with his conscience about whether or not to go to the police, he commits adultery with his employer's daughter who has turned recreational hooker.
Review:
The director's static, objective shooting style is here at the service of a script so ellipitical as to the inner life of the characters, or even the events of the scenario, that the results could mean anything or nothing. What we appear to be witnessing is the action of divine grace on a man who has committed a tremendous wrong and who, even when he is at the point of giving himself up to temporal authority, commits another. On the other hand, it could equally be an ironic look at a society apparently governed by empty ritual - the unfurling of the flag, the annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Guadalupe.
(Batalla en el cielo)
Country: MEX/BEL/FR/GER
Technical: col/1.78:1 126m
Director: Carlos Reygadas
Cast: Marcos Hernández, Anapola Mushkadiz, Bertha Ruiz
Synopsis:
In Mexico City a chauffeur and his wife have kidnapped a child and it has died. As the man grapples with his conscience about whether or not to go to the police, he commits adultery with his employer's daughter who has turned recreational hooker.
Review:
The director's static, objective shooting style is here at the service of a script so ellipitical as to the inner life of the characters, or even the events of the scenario, that the results could mean anything or nothing. What we appear to be witnessing is the action of divine grace on a man who has committed a tremendous wrong and who, even when he is at the point of giving himself up to temporal authority, commits another. On the other hand, it could equally be an ironic look at a society apparently governed by empty ritual - the unfurling of the flag, the annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Guadalupe.