Saturday, August 26, 2006

Movie 2006.08.26 - Heaven

This is the first movie of Krzysztof Kieslowski's planned trilogy - Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film. The pace is slow-moving, the dialogue is sparse and minimal, the score is light and unintrusive, and the scenes are very well-shot. You'd be surprised it's directed by Tom Tykwer of Run Lola Run fame.

The movie starts with Filippo, a cabinieri played by Giovanni Ribisi, engaged in a helicopter simulation. During the training, he flies the chopper higher and higher, and the voice-over tells him patiently that in the real world, a helicopter cannot fly that high. In the next scene, we see Philippa (nice choice of names), an English teacher played by Cate Blanchett, preparing a bomb and delivering it to an office. She leaves it in the wastebasket, which was later collected by the cleaning lady. She (the cleaning lady) takes the lift, together with a Dad with two kids, and they were all killed in the explosion. Philippa was later picked up by the police. During her interragation (the most dramatic part of the movie), where Filippo served as a translator, she was devastated to find out that her bomb had claimed innocent lives, instead of the drug pusher she intended to take out. Filippo took a liking to her and concocted an elaborate escape plan, but not before arranging for the drug pusher to come to the police station, and for Philippa to shoot him dead (using the police chief's gun). Having avenged her husband's death, the couple fled to the Montepulciano countryside. They shaved their heads to avoid identification and life was good for a while. They were ultimately tracked down by the police. During the manhunt, they commandeered a police helicopter, and away they went. Instead of flying off, the helicopter went straight up - up and up until it is just a speck in the sky.

Not much in the way of a plot or dialogue. This is more like a "feeling" movie, where you concentrate on the acting, the unsaid words, the framing of the scenes. Nicely done.

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