Customer Reviews

Battle In Heaven

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Apparently people just aren't much into "faking it" anymore, even when it comes to sex in the movies. The Mexican film, "Battle in Heaven," opens with a graphic scene of a young woman performing oral sex on the main character - and we can clearly see that this is not a simulation (it's also not much of a stimulation given the man involved). I don't know if the various hardcore scenes were actually included in the movie when it played theatrically in the United States in 2006. But they are certainly in the video, and those easily offended by such activity had best be forewarned.

For me, the sex scenes themselves are not the problem. It is the movie as a whole that I object to. For "Battle in Heaven" is a pretentious, arty contrivance that seems to be operating under the assumption - quite rightly perhaps, since the movie ended up on quite a large number of ten best lists last year - that it can earn points with the critical intelligentsia if it can just manage to bore its audience into a state of complete catatonia.

It tells the desultory and languid tale of an overweight, middle-aged chauffeur who wanders in a zombie-like daze around Mexico City wracked with guilt over the fact that he and his wife recently kidnapped a child who ended up dying under their care. During the course of the film, Marcos (Marcos Hernandez) is able to shake himself out of his stupor long enough to have sex with his wife, sex with his boss' daughter and sex with himself while watching a soccer game. The movie is all about the struggle that is being perpetually waged within the Mexican soul between sex and temptation on the one hand and piety, guilt and the obsessive need for redemption on the other. And while this theme is certainly a valid one and is actually developed to some extent in the closing scenes of the drama, the movie itself is far too inert, far too easily sidetracked, and far too underdeveloped to capture our interest.

This is a really interesting film. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding it (because of certain scenes) which I'm hoping won't scare people off (somehow I don't think it will) but it really is one of those rare movies that gets you talking on so many different levels.

Carlos Reygadas (the director) has a very unique style, which you cannot help but appreciate. Some of the shots in the film are just amazing! Also, I really thought the lead actress, for someone who had never acted before, did a wonderful job! I still cannot decide on the lead male (who had also never acted professionally before) but honestly his performance did not hurt the film any.

What it's about: Basically a chauffeur and his wife kidnap a baby that dies in their care. The chafer confesses his secret to Ana, the daughter of a rich general, who works as a prostitute on the side, and who he drives to her "job." Carlos tries to find redemption through Ana, and ultimately falls in love with her.

It is a very intense film, but absolutely worth seeing, despite the graphic scenes and controversy.

In BATALLA EN EL CIELO, we are presented with an unflinchingly gritty glimpse into the lives of three individuals struggling with double lives, sexual and social identity in a world that is alternately cruel and nihilistic. Marco (Marcos Hernandez) drives Ana (Anapola Mushkadiz), the wealthy daughter of an influential family. They also confide in one another their deepest and most disturbing secrets. Marco and his wife have kidnapped a young child they are holding for ransom. Ana moonlights as a prostitute, as an escape from her mundane and pampered existence. The two of them have also engaged in trysts kept in secret from their families and the rest of the world. (Which are graphically depicted in the film in a style that can be described as anything but dignified.)

For me, the title of this film, alone, is a great paradox that is left to us audience members to ponder. Is this reference intended to be biblical or cautionary? Just what is it that the characters are battling in heaven? Is it a crisis of consciousness? Are they questioning their own morality (or lack thereof) in the face of relentless alienation? Particularly, for me, the character of the (at times) catatonic Marco is at once pathetic, as he blankly gazes into the distance, as well as poignant. You can hardly call him the "hero" of this story. He is more like the hapless anti-hero. It wasn't so much that I hated him, but, throughout the course of the movie, it was a rare occasion that I felt any connection with him at all, much less the acts that he commits. They are presented as incidental episodes (be they sexual or violent acts). It was very hard for me to form any connection with him or with Ana, nor with any of the other characters in the film.

BATTLE IN HEAVEN has been criticized and earned censorship as well as praise. This is due to the graphic nature of the sex scenes, as well as what has been perceived as an exploitative look at Mexico City and the nature of its people. We see scenes of soccer matches juxtaposed with soldiers doing their militaristic marches, as well as people engaging in detached sexual activity (maybe the better word for this is soul-less).
This is not a film I can easily recommend as a good introduction to Mexican cinema because it unfortunately left me cold and without a sense of any really deep emotion at all nor any deeper insight into the culture that is depicted in it.

This is Carlos Reygada's second film, and his camera is ceaselessly searching. It investigates the transient murmuring of marching pilgrims, explores the ephemeral traffic of subway corridors, and paces itself to curiously follow the cadence of early morning flag raising ceremonies. It orbits around and inhabits the environment of Marcos, a protagonist so firmly planted to the earth that his crushing personal conflict is barely perceptable on his flaccid expression. Reygadas is desperate to discover the transcendence inaccessible to Marcos, whose only worldly absolve from his sense of shame is to be enveloped by something pure and beautiful - something that obsesses and corrupts him. It is one of the most impressive aesthetic feats in recent filmmaking: every scene (especially the gas station & soccer game sequences) is emotionally engaging. Ignore cries of "pornography" from detractors: there have been plenty of recent films to feature graphic sexual scenes, but Battle in Heaven is a incisive character study, not an empty exercise in exploitation.

I honestly had no clue what to think after first viewing this film. It begins and ends with graphic sex scenes, and the moral tone is ambiguous at best. After all, our two main characters are a middle-aged kidnapper and a rich girl who sells herself for kicks. At times the pacing is tedious, and it's difficult to tell what the characters are feeling because the range of emotions they display is minimal. Despite all this, I found the whole thing fascinating, and when it was over greatly enjoyed watching it again.

In many ways the film is perplexing. It shows us a riveting and intense slice of life, but that slice is presented with minimal context. We know a kidnapping has occurred and the victim has died, but other than that, no details are forthcoming. We're also never told how the (highly unlikely) relationship between the rich girl and her chauffeur began, but it's obvious that it's complicated, emotional, and passionate. Thematically, this is a film about keeping secrets, and what those secrets can do to us. It also has something to say about sin, redemption, and social distinctions.

This isn't a film for the squeamish, or for those who want the story spelled out for them. But, if you can get past that, it's a film that will draw you in, keep you watching, and keep you thinking long after it's over.

This film was surly something. The opening and closing scene of this film insures that it would had never been play at a multi-plex near you. Battle in Heaven is a curious piece by Mexican director Carlos Reygadas. Sexually explicit, but largely unerotic, Reygadas explores the human body with a stark realism that isn't always easy on the eye and these actors are real people,...... and it shows.

In this story we have Marco (Marcos Hernandez) who has been a chauffeur for a General of the Army for fifteen years. His unnamed wife (Bertha Ruiz) hawks alarm clocks and pastry in a metro station. Both are middle-aged, unattractive, and overweight, the antithesis of Hollywood glamor. The film is framed by sexual acts, and explicitly realistic Dumont-like sex is sprinkled throughout, apparently designed to tweak our level of comfort rather than turn us on. As part of his job, Marcos chauffeurs the elite General's rebellious young daughter Ana (Anapola Mushkadiz) around town and he is the only one who knows about her secret life, turning tricks in a brothel. To clear the air and perhaps to receive some of her favors, Marcos admits to her that he and his wife kidnapped the baby of a friend and that the baby died accidentally.

Transcending racial taboos and class differences, Ana agrees to have sex with her driver but tells him to turn himself in to the police. Persuaded by his wife, however, he decides to wait until after the procession of Catholics to the shrine of the Lady of Guadeloupe.

Reygadas challenges our visual ideals about screen sex by zooming in on Marcos's flabby physique and his wife's pimpled, varicose veined flesh. There's no getting around the fact that neither of them were at the front of the queue when good looks were given out, and in many respects Reygadas has done something unique here with the sex scenes. But the end result of his experimentation serves as a distraction from the principle story and only adds to the alienation we're already beginning to feel towards his expressionless, unfathomable characters. They're totally lifeless and did not even engage me at all. I found myself wondering how much time had passed and wishing for shots to complete rather than watching the same shot for the next ten to fifteen seconds. A feeling I felt once before with The House of Mirth.

The music was sort of interesting and I read that the director spent 7 weeks just on the sound. My guess, two weeks on the rest of the film. Personally this film could of been told in under thirty minutes. The rest comprises of long, slow moving shots of people walking, standing, corridors, buildings, scenery, and non too erotic sex. Now when I talk about slow shots, I am talking about a five to ten second slow pan showing a character turn their head one way, followed by another long shot of their head turning the other way and the camera turning again. Or the excruciating scenes of characters just standing and looking. It was difficult to wait for the camera to catch up. The movie needed so much more editing, as it stand it would bring it down to a short, but there were many aspects of the story that could have actually been attempted to be explored on screen, even in a minimalist way. You better off watching another Mexican films like "Lolo," "Vera," "Japon," Pulque's Song" or a favorite of mine "Amores Perros."

I loved Japon and was quite curious about this one. I'm glad i got the chance to own it because it's a great follow up to Japon AND a good promise of a brilliant film career for Carlos Reygadas. I am now a true fan of his work!
He is again using non-professional actors for this film and you would think that that formula would somehow fail but it honestly doesn't! It seems to give the films more heart and soul if anything. It's an unconventional way to approach filmmaking but a brilliant way too if it's done well. And this is done well.
Yes, there are some strong sexual scenes that are also quite unconventional in this film. I can't help but think of it as something that comes to being as real as possible. Mr. Reygadas doesn't have time for delusions. He'll give you the real thing!

This film had no idea what it wanted to be. It is disjointed and utterly awful. Even the sex scenes were awful. I bought it and simply tossed into the trash after one viewing.

First of all, the story. A couple kidnap a baby that then dies.
The twist: The man, Marcos is the driver and bodyguard to a general. The general's daughter (Who is gorgeous) spends her evenings working as a prostitute at a high class brothel she calls "The boutique". When Marcos reveals the kidnapping to the girl, the conflict arises.
There is some explicit sex, but it is minimal, and should not detract from anyone's enjoyment of this movie.
There are layers of subtlety here.
Marco's wife earns some money selling all kinds of things in the Mexico subway, among them cakes made with (Eeeek) Sugus. He wears a jacket that identifies him as a security guard.
The contrast between his lifestyle and the upper class lifestyle adds social commentary and depth to the movie.
I recommend it without reservations.

At first I was going to give this movie one star. It seemed to be just a mashup of obvious thematic studies: Sin and redemption; conflict between old/new in Mexico; class/ethnic/religious conflict, etc., with turgid, ponderous plotting and acting with some sex thrown in to sell a few more DVDs.

But then I kept coming back to unattractive it all was. There's always a certain charm in the vulgar; a comfort in the repetitive; and a fascination with intense lack of beauty. In the end, it's the polar opposite of what we expect movies to be. I think Reygadas gets it right.