Product Details

• Actors: Mohamed Bellasoued, Mahdi Chaouch, Jean Louis Chassigneux, Suzanne Compte, Núria Espert
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Cav Distribution
• DVD Release Date: October 29, 2002
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00007149L
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,819 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Viva La Muerte" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the spirit of surrealism and panic juxtaposition, January 4, 2005

By 

Adolph Pinelad (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Viva La Muerte (DVD)

A film that quivers on the fringe, the fringe of ideas, of intuitive mysticism, as it probes into the artifices of intelectual snobery. It is playful, it is violent and disquieting, it touches and transforms conventions, in what has now become a classical preconception of surrealism
-That is: yes, in some aspects the film is outdated, since it is in fact a response to the time in which it was created - but as anything with actual content, it is, timeless. Though maybe not timeless for everyone.
The film is the creation of a man that is obsessed in probing the fibers of reality, and bringing out the bloody absurdity of man.
This type of movie is not concerned with moviemaking in the more orthodox sense that Tarkovsky or Kurosawa, for example, are. This is the vision of a creative man using film to express ideas, they are brought to us by a film. There is no way to compare the approach you might have in viewing the great film makers as in wiewing Arrabal. But he uses the medium quite well, and in his joviality you can spot the similarities with Jodorowsky.
This DVD release is quite good. Aside from the great movie you get an interview with Arrabal. In this interview, Arrabal delivers an image of a man that is immersed in his persona -he takes his shoe off and is holding it up to his head-, a person fractured and irreverent, in such a way that makes you wonder what his real intentions may be, is this intentional or not? it doesn't. But if you know anything about him it is clear he is an intelligent person. When you see the movie you are not concerned with these questions. You are just put face to face with ideas. And ideas are powerful depending on how you may put them to use. So there you are, faced with ideas tied together in panic fashion.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I cannot belive nobody has reviewed this!!!!!!, February 6, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Viva La Muerte (DVD)

Maybe Fernando Arrabal didn't enjoy the cult popularity that his partner and cofounder of " Panic" Jodorowsky did, but I'm pretty surprised that nobody has written anything on this nice and little seen movies, since they are to a certain extent better than what we have out there by Jodorowsky ( Fando & Lis, which is based upon a play by Arrabal by the way), and most fans of Jodorowsky would be familiar with Arrabal's name because of that. Besides, I don't think there's another non "studio" DVD edition that's as nice as what they did with this particular one. Arrabal is an important artist in many fields. This film and, of course, the other one that's on the market, are full with truly challenging imagery and narrative technique, and are better productions than " Fando y Lis". Even if you heard the name just because their films are known as brutal, offensive, violent and disgusting, and are not really into " art" filmmaking ( as many people would categorize this pieces) you should really chek them out: Either way, no other film comes closer to Arrabal's films. We are very lucky to have them uncut perhaps for the first and last time ever. Many people are waiting for stuff like "Saló" or " Cannibal Holocaust" to be released. They sould know that they may not be the daring landmark films legend's made out of them, at least not the only ones.

I hope this DVDs are selling good so they release sometime " The three of Guernica" (which is his best movie). and " The Automobile Graveyard". I guess they didn't want to risk it that much since Arrabal, as good as he is, is most well known in Europe than here in the U.S., where barely anybody remembers his contributions to theatre, fiction and movies. For example, he even directed a movie with Spike Lee in the 80s.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be Forwarned!!, May 6, 2004

By A Customer

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This review is from: Viva La Muerte (DVD)

If you can't stomach real animal torture and real bloodletting then read no further. If you can remember this is a movie about atrocities so its not entirely inappropriate to have moments of the theater of cruetly. The "plot" if you can call it that concerns a young boy growing up in fascist Spain and it is a shocking, horrifying indictment of that era. Remember this film was made when Franco was alive and well albeit in France, not Spain who, however, promptly banned this film. This was a pleasent surprise to be on DVD and it is far better than the incoherent rambling El Topo. Anyway, if you can handle the strong images you may find this film fascinating. If not then make it a Blockbuster night.