Marcos and his wife kidnap a baby for ransom money, but it goes tragically wrong when the infant dies. In another world is Ana, the daughter of the general he drives for, who prostitutes herself for pleasure. Marcos confesses his guilt to her in his troubled search for relief. And then finds himself on his knees amidst the multitude of believers moving slowly towards the Basilica in honor of the Lady of Guadalupe.
Since premiering at Cannes the movie has become notorious for its shocking, emphatically unerotic sex scenes, though it's equally notable for its striking visual conceits and small moments of intense feeling.
rich in allegorical theme and symbolic imagery, transforming the most banal of materials into miraculous epiphanies... but all too aimlessly hypnotic to get a firm grip on the viewer's attention.
Reygadas' direction seems to wander from time to time, as when Marcos walks around in the hills for long minutes without a purpose, but he always brings it back home. He's a perplexing, but voraciously talented filmmaker to watch.
Reygadas' artful but ponderous camerawork succeeds only in turning the intimately exploitative ... into something emotionally distant and stupefyingly dull.
Should the audience choose to take this film on, the battle that's waged here is against conventional artistic expressions of political and sexual turmoil.
The only battle I had was deciding whether to watch the whole movie or get out while the getting was good. Unfortunately, I opted to stay to see if it got better... it didn't.
First movie made to date starring robots disguised as humans. Thus, explaining the lack of anything that remotely looks like a human emotion, or normal human behaviour, in this film.Anyway, Reygadas can't trick me with his smoke curtains, the man wanted to film fat people screwing. If you need more proof of the type of
cinematic wanker this guy is, he's selling himself like a sort of Tarkovsky meets Breson. Seriously, nobody in his right mind will say they "enjoyed" this unless they're just trying to impress some pseudo-intelectual hot chick at some bar.
September 9, 2007
Tsubaki Sanjuro
Super Reviewer
Ugly fat guy sleeps with prostitute in graphic sex scene. Slow, plot-less, with characters you couldn't care less about let alone identify with.
No quotes approved yet for Battle in Heaven (Batalla en el cielo). Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'Battle in Heaven (Batalla en el cielo)'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Top Critic
