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Critics Consensus: There's no denying the seriousness of Heli's story or the raw power of its more uncomfortable moments, but they're used in service of a grimly alienating film that many viewers may ultimately find unrewarding.
Critic Consensus: There's no denying the seriousness of Heli's story or the raw power of its more uncomfortable moments, but they're used in service of a grimly alienating film that many viewers may ultimately find unrewarding.
All Critics (41) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (25) | Rotten (16)
The film's nihilism serves as a metaphor for the merciless death pit of Mexico's drug war, but not much else.
Director Amat Escalante and his gifted cinematographer Lorenzo Hagerman have crafted a powerful film that feels and looks a lot like Steven Soderbergh's Oscar-winning Traffic.
Although it obviously is made with some skill, it also is unrelentingly dire.
Unmistakably, an angry film, an indictment of circumstances that seem to force a choice between impotence and homicide.
A stunning piece of filmmaking.
An average newspaper reporter can do a more artful, compassionate job with a drug-war story than this movie does.
"Heli" is a slow, but unrelenting look at one young man's punishing loss of innocence amongst a society that has already decayed beyond understanding.
...maybe Heli contains few layers beyond its central political outcry, but then, maybe it doesn't need to.
Though not without its faults, Heli is a beautifully shot, deliberately quiet surprise.
(Torture, child rape, mutilation, a penis set ablaze.) Still, the unforgiving, unrelenting, hostile tone of "Heli" is electric with unforgiving, unforgivable anger.
It's very easy to appreciate Escalante's technique and ability, even if watching "Heli" isn't a particularly pleasant experience.
The story of a rural, working-class Mexican family torn apart by the drug trade, this indie is a gripping and increasingly horrifying descent into violence and despair.
"Heli" is an uncompromising, nihilistic film, angry behind dead eyes and graphically shocking.
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