Before the Fall (2008) User Reviews

Apocalyptic thriller , artfully and competently written/directed by F. Javier Gutiérrez

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 23 February 2018]

This is a mix of drama, thrills , terror and end of world doom and gloom ; add to that a really magnificent cast . The world learns that a planet killing meteorite will arrive in 72 hours . A giant meteorite is about to collide with Earth, and horrible events spread across the planet , then there emerging panic as well as creepy and eerie happenings happen . The planet is gripped by despair , destruction , massacre and chaos. The inhabitants of the little town of Laguna listen to theTV news in terror . One of them is Ale (Víctor Clavijo) who lives with his mother (Mariana Cordero) and her four grandsons . Later on , Ale to take care of the children . Then , Lucio (Eduard Fernández) , a weird and suspect individual shows up and things go wrong .

The horror and action moments are fast moving and compactly realized . Gory and spooky terror/sci-Fi film is entertaining for fans of the genre . The main premise turns out the be the following : What would you do if the world was going to end in 72 hours? This exciting picture contains intense drama , thrills, chills , graphic violence ,and action-filled . This is an effective and simple movie ; it results to be an acceptable Spanish horror , including functional special effects realized in traditional style, including brief C.G. The picture results to be interesting and thought-provoking because of his rich analysis of human morality in the context of extreme conditions . The creepy images of wide range from the genuinely horrifying to the bizarre along with scary and amazing frames . It is a great roller-coaster ride, from beginning to end , though action and terror really starts when a rare role show up . Victor Clavijo gives a very good acting as a young decides to spend his last days shut away, getting drunk and listening to music, but his schemes change when he is forced to protect his brother's children. As well as Eduard Fernández as an ambiguous, disturbing stranger . It packs suspenseful and thrilling musical score by Antonio Meliveo . And colorful and glimmer cinematography by Miguel Ángel Mora .

In 2007, Gutiérrez received an offer from Antonio Banderas and Antonio P. Pérez to write and direct his first feature film, Before the Fall (2008). The film premiered at the official section "Special Panorama" at the Berlin Film Festival and gained traction in Europe. He also directed a piece for the series Diminutos del Calvario II. Gutiérrez's piece, La habitación de Norman (Norman's Room), a claustrophobic tribute to Hitchcock's Psycho, was praised by film fan magazines and websites in the United States. And he founded in 2001 his own Film Production Company: "Dr. T Producciones Cinematograficas, S.L.". Subsequently , he made the successful ¨Rings¨ (2017) . This ¨Tres días¨ had several awards : Goya Awards 2009 Winner Goya Best Sound . Málaga Spanish Film Festival 2008 (Mejor Sonido) Winner Best First Screenplay F. Javier Gutiérrez ,Juan Velarde Winner Golden Biznaga F. Javier Gutiérrez , Winner Silver Biznaga Best Supporting Actress : Mariana Cordero and Best Make-Up . Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 2009 Winner CEC Award Best Editing Nacho Ruiz Capillas , CEC Award Best Cinematography Miguel Ángel Mora . Sci-Fi Channel Audience Award and Jury's Special Mention in the Nantes International Science-Fiction Festival (France). Best Feature Film Award in the Trieste International Science-Fiction Film Festival (Italy) . Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival 2009 Winner Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver F. Javier Gutiérrez .Screamfest 2009 was Winner Festival Trophy Best Actor: Víctor Clavijo , Best Cinematography: Miguel Ángel Mora , Best Director : F. Javier Gutiérrez, Best Editing : Nacho Ruiz Capillas . And the movie was #3 in the 2008 International Watch List, the list of the best foreign movies of the year elaborated by Hollywood studio executives every year.

The end is near! So stay alive so you can die.

[domnulx · 6/10 · 3 December 2008]

The 72 hours before a comet strikes is just enough time to launch a cult film about the struggle of good versus evil. This film may not go far with the Euro-Film-Fest Seventh-Art crowd, but it will definite have legs to stand on for a long time.

3 Días or Three Days (US title) or Before the Fall, (international title), examines the actions of a man stressed almost to the breaking point by outrageous fortune. It is directed by F Javier Guttiérez, and written by him and Juan Velarde. This is a period of three days before the end of the world, in a small town in Spain. What would the general population do if they knew the Earth would be destroyed in three days? You'll have to do most of the imagining yourself, because the film only gives a glance at what is happening in the outside world. This film focuses on one man's efforts to save his family from evil of others in the microcosmic environment of an isolated area of the Spanish interior.

The film is very well made, but the philosophical incongruities of this film's premise undercut the experience for me. It is an odd study of human nature, that this man has no time to ponder his own life, his own personal disappointments and philosophy, but must spend the last 72 hours of existence in this primitive struggle against evil. However, despite the peculiarity and perhaps improbable behavior of the protagonist, it is filmed with subtlety. The land seems timeless, the sun searingly close and the wind explosive. The direction is also excellent, not only for the major characters but for everyone that comes before the camera, and the people are dangerous and inscrutable and very cinematic. In keeping with the apocalyptic theme, there are some bloody scenes, though none are particularly gruesome. The scenes of violence against young children, however, are difficult to take.

Victor Clavijo plays the part of Alejandro with amazing energy and emotional involvement. This is acting that is worthy of award attention, but although the film was considered in the pre-selection for the European Film Awards in 2008, it did not make it to the final round. It is the kind of acting that usually gets ignored at the European Film Awards: physicality and pathos don't play well across the European cultural divide. It was also produced by Antonio Banderas, an important figure in international cinema with the smell of Hollywood about him, not exactly considered an eau de cologne at EFA. Add to that its aura of genre film, kind of sci-fi, fantasy and El Mariachi cultish. It is easy to see why the film has been totally ignored for EFA awards in 2008.

The screenplay, written by the director Guttiérez and Juan Velarde, won the Best First Screenplay award at the Málaga Film Festival, and that, I would say, is about as far as the awards should go for this script, since the script is probably one of the weakest elements here. It effectively sets up the situation and develops the tension in an exciting way, but there are the usual lapses of logic that occur when a European auteur film has not gone through a thorough review. Who are the violent criminals in the early scenes? Why does the grandmother wander away? Why would the children accept this situation without question? These are irritating problems that could have easily been fixed with some more careful scripting.

In general, it is a satisfying genre film, an action-slash-slasher film in an unusual setting, and it serves to introduce Clavijo, a well known Spanish TV actor, to the international cinema. Though it is not my cup of tea, I think this film will continue to attract viewers for years to come as it spreads beyond Europe just below the radar.

An very ambitious end of the world flick.....

[mdnobles19 · 7/10 · 8 December 2009]

An ambitious, suspenseful, taut, apocalyptic/thriller that was quite an refreshing take on the genre. The performances were all strong and the story ingenious which will keep you on the edge of your seat especially towards the end and the effects and filming were subtle but haunting, so if you were thinking it was going to be an action packed disaster flick think again because it's deeper and darker than that. The pace could of been a little faster but I like how it had a nice little build up to the shocking, haunting and sad end. Overall I really appreciated this little gem that has a great story and plot behind it that has a lot of potential of being a great remake because it could be improved upon. Recommended even though it's quite depressing but what a movie! More of a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Bad story well done

[benjamingrullo · 11 January 2009]

This is the kind a movie I can't bear, the whole script rests on a main character who artificially postpones action in order to complete an hour and a half movie. I have the same feeling than watching Straw Dogs. As other comment says: "your guarding a bunch of helpless children from a known psycho, and a very suspicious stranger shows up when you are out in the middle of no where, you take him away from the house and you shoot him and then you shoot him again". You know the guy should shoot the bad guy from the very beginning, and there is no reason no to do so, you know and he knows... but we have to complete a movie.

The main character is also incoherent with his purpose of protecting the kids, leaving them alone, and breaking the unity of the family group. The action is done against basic human rules of behavior.

The acting is OK, is the writing and the whole movie concept that doesn't work.

Breakdown

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 27 July 2008]

I saw this at the Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale) and although the director came out after the movie and tried to explain why he made the third act, the way he made it, I still wasn't really completely behind him or his concept. It is of course an independent production (even if a Mr. Banderas co-produced it or whatever) and the director was more than likable. But I, and many other as I can see by the votes here on IMDb, couldn't get over that final act and it's strange turn of events.

While the movie had many things going for it, up until that point (decent acting, a scenario where many things were possible and or plausible, especially because it is sci-fi after all), it seems to even hop genres at the end. What has worked for other directors before doesn't apply here. Unfortunately, because I really would have loved the movie more if it stayed, in it's lane (again the ending will appall many viewers, beware!)

Bleak end of the world tale never meshes its two plot threads completely

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 16 November 2009]

(Spoilers are ahead. I talk about the end so don't say I didn't warn you) Saw this on IFC in Theaters service, though I know the DVD recently came out.

With only four days left before a meteor is to crash into the earth, the governments of the world tell the populations of the world. As panic and prayer ensue one man tries to make peace with himself, the world and his family. Unfortunately a serial killer has gotten out of prison and made his way to the family house in the country. Forced through circumstance he must now protect his brothers children before the meteor kills everyone on the face of the earth.

Talk about damned if you do damned if you don't. This is not a particularly happy movie. they basically tell you at the start that there is no hope, so the question is do you lay down and go now or fight until the last possible minute. thematically this is the life of anyone who ever has been told they are going to die and decided to fight to the bitter end. I'm not sure we need a film this bleak to lay it out for us.

Actually I'm not sure what to think of this film. Its two excellent films, an end of the world tale beautifully made and nicely well modulated, more so since the whole notion of the adults knowing whats coming and the kids don't adds a nice shading to the tale. At the same time the serial killer story is well done and scary, with some nicely nasty turns. The problem is that in the process of shoehorning them together both stories are kind of undone. The meditative nature of the end of the world tale (which I should say kind of reminds me of Andre Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice) gets lost when faced with the serial killer. The serial killer plot while very tense is short circuited by knowing beating hims doesn't matter. I have no doubt that should something like a meteor threaten the earth something like this could happen, but at the same time watching it kind of seems pointless. If the film could have somehow made the two parts work better together this might have been a great film. As it stands its a good film thats too bleak to contemplate and too fractured to feel satisfying.

Worth a try, but you'll know where its going from the outset so don't say I didn't warn you.

6 out of 10 because of its fractious nature. the pieces are actually much higher than that.

Expressive but weird movie

[vortex007 · 5/10 · 16 February 2010]

I seriously relied on Tres días, but it left me blank, completely blank… Well on the one hand, the idea is great. Three days before apocalypse left and it's very curious to see how people from small town spend their last days considering that they know about oncoming end. On another hand, this great idea wasn't implemented exactly like I expected. Undoubtedly it doesn't mean that if something didn't justify my hopes its bad thing. But in this case we got really weird picture. Weird due to the strange thriller elements, they were quite superfluous I think. And the punch line was entirely unrelated with idea of apocalypse.

I've no clue what creators tried to tell by this picture it looks like they tried to pursue two aims simultaneously but didn't reached any of them. Both parts of the film (sci-fi and thriller) are washed-up; everything seems to be so confused that it's almost impossible to understand what this movie is about. I don't understand what's the point to make revenge or try to escape when u know that only 3 days left! Probably it tries to show us that it's very important how to die? Well, theoretically it's possible but I cannot get a necessity of revealing such concept by that way, particularly when u know that in real situation nobody won't care about revenge.

Rest of all is OK, amazing operator's work, good actor performance, great landscapes, tricky suspense moves, but as I mentioned before, no clue in the plot. The psychological behavior of people on the threshold of apocalypse is much more significant stuff in such movies in my opinion. And the script doesn't provide it. It doesn't have what it takes. This film should offer much more then just contradictory story without any meaning.

4 movies crashed together and there were no survivors.

[jtwaverly · 3/10 · 25 October 2008]

The acting was good. The movie was well made. But the characters didn't make sense. The plot was unrealistic. I realize movies don't have to be realistic, but this type of movie should be. What type of movie was it? A bad one. The type that keeps showing promise, only to let down.

At some point, you tell the children that the world is ending. I would tell them immediately, but maybe you can justify not telling them because they are innocent. When smoke is coming up from the town, you are forced to tell them--unless the only child that notices is the youngest. When the stranger who smiles at you when you point a gun at him shows up, then for the love of God, you tell them.

At some point, the audience should maybe start liking a character. Instead, I found myself rooting for the asteroid. But even the asteroid let me down. I've seen more exciting asteroid apocalypse on public television.

And by the way, when there are basically no consequences for your actions (one of the cool things about the end of the world), your guarding a bunch of helpless children from a known psycho, and a very suspicious stranger shows up when you are out in the middle of no where, you take him away from the house and you shoot him and then you shoot him again.

And here's a memo to Spain, the 1900's called: they want their rock salt back.

Pathetic movie: the best Spanish movie of the year.

[ynoel-2 · 1/10 · 2 August 2009]

Great photography. Good acting (within the Films very limited range), including that of the kids. It's the best Spanish film I've seen in 2 years. The film is pathetic. In a deserted village 72h before the end of the World, there's fire, a 4 year-old girl plays with a broken and dirty doll…? Wow, we're already in absurd cliché land. But then comes… a man's hand, offering her… a candy. Yes, a candy, can you believe it! Because we are supposed to understand that a few hours before the world ends perverts roam deserted villages in search of 4 year-old girls. Oh dear. Who on earth are those responsible for such Hollywood-influenced narrative stupidities in Spanish films? Maybe the director lives too long in the States; maybe he was seeking to fulfil the necessary dose of superficiality and gratuitous sensationalism in order to secure USA distribution. Is it a thriller? An apocalypse movie? A romance? A horror movie? A child abuser story? It's trying to cover as much territory as possible and manages nothing. Unmotivated and repeated cruelty towards children, child killings (by hanging), child rape, …my God, there is serious narrative prostitution to the service of the easy manipulation of audiences 'fears'. It is inexcusable. Shameless in fact. It seems they complained in the Spanish press that no one went to see the film in Spain, and they had the gall to claim the film was not at all a copycat version of American models. Oh please. This is omitting to detail the enormous gaps in the script, in-credibility (a girl playing the flute under the andalucian summer heat at midday?!), ridiculous coincidences, completely illogical moments (they still have lights after the apocalypse has smashed onto earth?), but all so useful when one wants to avoid having to work over a script. False synthetic music (but OK effects), clichés ad-vomitum, I tried to hold on till the end but... When in the final scenes the unknown 'pretty woman' shows up out of nowhere and for no reason, I just turned the thing off. There is a limit of ridicule that medium intelligent people can bare in one session. There should have been a new edit made of the film, in which 93 minutes was removed.

Deserves a better rating....

[manzfolded · 8/10 · 22 April 2008]

I had a chance to see Javier Gutierrez's movie "Tres Dias" in a screening in Tarragona, Spain tonight...The movie first shows a tendency to reflect the reaction of the small town to the news of the apocalypse and does it in a rather elegant way...However, on the ride changes the course of the story in a more thriller aspect...Some people may call this inconsistency but the movie later reveals the reason of this choice...A warning about expectations on this movie...This is not an ind-apocalyptic movie but rather the portrait of a family on the verge of destruction...To avoid giving a spoiler, I would just say that, try to watch the movie in the way it is intended to be, not the way you expect it to be....Victor Clavijo and Mariana Cordero have astonishing performances and the photography has a characteristic side to it...You can actually feel the hot dusty landscape right in front of you...This indicates a certain talent... The movie has a lot to offer and maybe it does fail you in small segments but the whole picture is pretty nice to look at and keeps you going until the end.....

3 days to live or 3 days to die

[timmy-k · 4/10 · 16 January 2009]

Before watching this movie, I've looked through several IMDb comments and became even more interested. I almost enjoyed watching this movie. Really, it was not boring at all and it kept me interested in it, interested in how it will end, and suddenly a saw a list of cast. I mean, the movie ended but everything was still mysterious for me. This movie left more questions than impressions. What was the reason to kill before death? What was the reason to die? Why did he try to help children of his brother, while brother himself left them alone? Well, I can't say that I completely didn't like it. But I was expecting more. Movie doesn't have "happy end" and it neither has "happy moments". But still the actors play is very good, even young actors impressed me much. So, I can advice you to watch this movie, cause as I think someone will like it very much, but not me

Wasted

[dusan-22 · 2/10 · 21 August 2009]

Good camera and excellent acting - these are the pros of this dark - end of the world - film. Camera assists on obtaining perfect darkness to be served. Cones: film is dark without any composition contrast. Escaped child killer and avenger are the great threats but can these keep your attention when in the background the end of the world is going on? No, because the background strangles the power of the movie. Where are your emotions focused? Can you decide? No, because you need a plot balance to maintain the dynamics. If there is dark only it put you asleep. It has excellent actors and very scary camera, people who do their job very well, everyone except director who makes the movie looking like a film experiment.

Hm

[gwsa · 5/10 · 6 October 2008]

This is an interesting film. But... I have to say the actors are really good. The cinematography is very good. Directing isn't bad either. But the script. Oh my god! Attention Spoilers! OK. it is very noble to save some children while the world is going to be destroyed by a meteoroid in three days. Sure you have to keep up hope till the end. That would be a nice message. But that's not the issue of this film. Here the ending of the world is nothing more than a trick to keep suspense high. The love scene in the end is so pathetic: Girl kissing Protagonist while meteoroid destroys the world. The script could have been very good if the writer/director wouldn't have taken himself so serious.

Mix of Armageddon movie and child serial killer story - wtf?

[gobeGT · 3/10 · 1 March 2011]

I read the plot and it made me watch this movie. World learning that it's going to end in 72h? Sounds like a good Armageddon movie - see people's reaction, masses going panic, overall decay and destruction. Unfortunately - this movie is nothing about it. It's a story about child serial killer who wants to finish what he has started before imprisoned mixed up with the end of the world.

Why would someone mix these two events - I really don't understand??? Maybe the idea in the beginning was to make an Armageddon movie, but then the budget did not allow the creators of the movie to realize all the ideas, so they came up with the child serial killer idea.

I'm really disappointed with this movie and I would not recommend anyone to watch it. The two ideas that fuel the script could be very good if separated, but watching them in one movie is really confusing.

The kind of movie you'll love or hate. I loved it!

[ignaciopalomar · 8/10 · 20 March 2008]

Because of a "friend of a friend" I had the opportunity to see this new Spanish movie produced by Antonio Banderas and directed by Francisco Javier Gutierrez in the last Berlin International Film Festival. I have to confess that I'm not "catastrophe's movies friendly" but this film really surprised me. The movie is about the world ending in 3 days due to the imminent fall of a meteorite, however it actually focuses more on people's behaviour in a small town in the south of Spain which causes the audience to ask themselves "what would you do in your last 3 days of life?, would you try to enjoy your last moments or just take the chance to take revenge against the people you hate?. Good question.

I previously knew of director Francisco J. Gutierrez for his short film "Brasil" which was award winning in several festivals around the world. It is quite common to see young directors start and finish their professional life with an original and "short-life-short-film", but on this occasion Francisco J. really used the money in the right way. 3 days holds your attention from the beginning to the end, the characters are very real and really remind you of the people in your neighbourhood or office. Also the rhythm is correct and the photography just fantastic. From my point of view, a new cinema age is starting in Spain and "Before the Fall" is an example of it. Well done.

Such a hard film to get through.

[frankblack-79961 · 2/10 · 20 September 2021]

Everything this idiot does in this film is horrendously stupid. How he expected to protect the kids is beyond comprehension. If you want something with an ounce of intelligence then this is not for you.

A cult movie

[jariold · 10/10 · 23 August 2008]

I saw this movie in Espoo Cine (Helsinki). I'm still in shock. I really love it. I have never seen something like this. It's truly different, risky and original. A strange and hypnotic mix of genres (Sci-fi, thriller, horror, fantasy, drama), so well done, so powerful, so visual, so artistic, so straight, so special. Hard and tender at the same time. Yes, hard because of some intense sequences (there are some really controversial, violent, realistic and uncomfortable moments) but also moving and touching (this movie touches you something deep inside). Yes, this strange film is really hard on the surface but warm and tender under it (as the main character of the story). It's a rare, original and unusual tale of fears, love, pain and humanity. Since the moment it finished (with brave, brilliant and artistic shot full of sadness and beauty) I knew it: It's different, it's special, it's "unique".

Battling to witness the end of existence

[Coventry · 10/10 · 26 April 2009]

I personally cherish a vast fascination for apocalyptic-themed Sci-Fi & horror movies and have seen a truckload of titles in this style, but I can honestly state I have never seen anything quite like Javier Guttierez' "Before the Fall". It's one of the most emotionally unsettling, uniquely structured, unpretentiously honest and hauntingly beautiful movies I've ever seen in my life. "Before the Fall" isn't just a movie about an all-devastating meteorite; this is a movie about choices, personal sacrifices, unconditional devotion, persistence and even a tiny sparkle of hope. The vast majority of "the-end-is-near" movies deal with trying to find a method to prevent the apocalypse from happening and/or focus on a small group of people as they are preparing a new beginning for after the complete destruction. Guttierez' film – deeply impressive for a long feature debut – makes it pretty clear and irrefutable that there isn't any chance left of avoiding or surviving the Armageddon. The fade has been determined and everyone's doomed, but this magnificent parable handles about HOW to spend those precious last numbered days. This concept is utmost simplistic and straightforward but actually I haven't seen it in any other movie ever before, so even that "Before the Fall" is similar to a whole list of movies, it constantly feels original and courageous. The governments of all nations in the world one morning announce that a large meteorite will inevitably collide with earth in three days. They knew it longer already, but waited with the announcement in order to avoid anarchy, mass-hysteria and chaos as much as possible. That quickly turns out a wise decision, as anarchy, mass-hysteria and chaos are the only things ensuing after the announcement. The plot follows Ale, a small town carpenter who still lives with his mother and is generally regarded as a lazy and non-ambitious lowlife. Ale always lived in the shadows of his older brother Thomas, who became an immortal hero after helping to capture a notorious child murderer 15 years ago. Thomas is now successful, married and the father of four children. Immediately after the announcement of the upcoming apocalypse, riots in prison cause all criminals to escape, including the child murderer. Ale's mother is convinced the killer wants revenge against Thomas, but since he and his wife are abroad, she begs Ale to accompany her and protect the children. Ale is reluctant to spend existence's final three days babysitting, but gradually changes his mind as he notices the threat of the child killer is for real and because his nieces and nephews are still unaware of the imminent apocalypse. "Before the Fall" unfolds as a tragic drama, then converts into a highly exciting action-thriller and then eventually converts back into a tragic drama. Throughout the entire middle section, when Ale is trying to safeguard the children from a potential serial killer, the suspense and ambiance are so intense that you almost forget the Armageddon is approaching as well. Ale fights a battle to protect the kids and survive himself as well … only to die all together a couple of days later. As a viewer you constantly know this, but still you support and hope for Ale and the kids to remain alive as long as possible and even longer. "Before the Fall" is an enchanting, beautiful and thought-provoking movie with stupendous acting performances, chilling music and breath-taking filming locations. Careful sensitive viewers, as the movie also contains a handful of confronting bits of harsh violence, graphic bloodshed and nihilistic carnage. Easily the most overwhelming and dazzlingly brilliant movie I've seen in the past years; nothing short of a masterpiece.

A beautifully filmed and acted movie of redemption

[anm-476-868648 · 10/10 · 14 September 2012]

I am an English speaker and I saw this movie in Spanish with English subtitles, and after viewing it I think, for me, that was the way it should be viewed.

At the outset we are told all life will be exterminated by a large meteor/asteroid hitting Earth, so we know what the bottom line is.

The story line follows a man who has to fight his own, personal demons before he is a whole person. The question is, 'will he make it before the planet is destroyed?'.

The filming is not graphic like most modern movies, there is very-very little blood-shed and what there is is on-screen for a fraction of a second. The violence is implied more than anything else, up until the finale that is. The viewer has to be an active participant or they are not going to like/understand/get what is going on.

The directing and acting is excellent, characters are totally believable, The filming is all 'warm' with a slight yellowish cast to convey the heat and dryness. It is a very effective movie.

I would highly recommend this movie to anyone.

A film about The End of The World - but more Supernatural than Science-Fiction!

[e-Liza1 · 10/10 · 29 March 2011]

This is a film about The End of The World.

But the end of the world happens on more than one level of reality!

This movie has been described as "science fiction", which was all that was needed to attract my attention.

But this has to be one of the most low-tech "science-fiction" films I have ever seen in my life!

Is it possible that people in Italy still don't have colour televisions? I don't think, so, somehow! So what is this movie REALLY about?

This movie is loaded with symbolism!

From my viewpoint the symbolism in this movie focused upon the Papal Coronation or High Mass on Black & White television sets, white paint, a white cat, and a cement factory (cement is also WHITE!) ...get it?!

This is a movie about demons (literally, the character "Soro", a paedophile/child-murderer "does she have a boyfriend?", he asks of a 15 year old girl, and he winks at the children, trying to gain access to their house at the front door. He has already killed 7 children, would have killed Alé, making it 8, if could have, and, coincidentally, he's out of prison after 20 years, and now he's out to get "revenge"!

This is a movie about confronting a demon at the End of the World! It is a metaphor for the pointlessness of existence and the impossibility of individual freedom under the yoke and tyranny of Roman Catholicism: Even at the end of the world, when you would think all that mattered would be pursuing the smallest possibility of survival or else reconciling oneself to one's fate - "certain" death via collision with the Earth with a meteor "FIVE times the size" of the one that wiped out the dinosaurs ("Pentagrama Films", by the way - if you don't believe this is a movie that exposes the Catholic Church!) , the human and sincere protagonist, Alé, is bogged down, in Kafkaesque fashion, unable to act freely, as though being set into concrete against his will by a demon who approaches him, will not leave, attracts his attention, occupies his field of view, threatens him so that he must be on his guard against him, makes him appear to be disturbed and unfriendly, and then, finally, besets him, kills and kidnaps children he is impelled to protect from Soros, and struggles with him in a pointless, meaningless, conflict in which only one of them can survive and so live, (EITHER good OR evil) until the end.

Then, finally, his victory over the demon is a Pyrrhic victory - at the end he has only reconciliation with himself, only the return of what he had lost: He has gained absolutely nothing ... and then it is all over (again)!

The white cat = The Pope ... (and the 'Cat-alike' Church!) - a demon focused upon the male principle, and dressed in the colour of it: White ... and the light, above, and from that focus upon white and light come conceptual-'concrete' from the "concrete factory" - "it traps you!" - sterility, order, perversion, control, law, censorship, prevention of freedom or desire to act, bureaucratic stifling of free-volition, legal restriction upon freedom to even exist, mania and madness - all assented to in the hope of gaining protection from, and power over, demons - the demons that ARE the Pope and Roman Catholicism, the demons that claim to be paternal protectors! The Vatican is the Devil and his demons in fancy dress - and this movie is a morality play about them, about good vs. evil, and how demons have made evil appear, in masquerade and with film-flam propaganda, to be good! "Why did you tell them a pack of lies?" demands Alé, the protagonist, of his mother ("mother church"?) when she lies and completely deceives all the children: Censorship and lies!

The TRUTH, revealed in this film, is that natural and supernatural reality are the REVERSE of what the status quo proclaims they are: "No crucifixes!" says Alé at his mother's newly prepared grave, after she has died in fright after seeing a vision of Alé, as a child, hanging from the tree above, and so in shock, or fear of the demon, Soros. And then Alé and the children bury her in the open field: "No prayers!", he says!

I hope I have convinced you, that this film is beyond its physical-plane science-fiction theme, in that it involves almost-surreal imagery and existential meaningfulness, and is in addition to, and interwoven with, it's enigmatic, powerful and macrocosmic science-fiction theme, a metaphysical film about the final supernatural struggle betwixt good and evil ... at The End of The World! And the demon, Soros is, I think, logically, in this film - and beyond it - the Pope, The Devil!

Not Quite What I Expected

[gbarrow-14295 · 8/10 · 22 December 2021]

Beautiful, awful, inspiring and tragic story from beginning to the end. A movie filled with flawed, but incredible human characters, each wonderfully acted and poised. Excellent entertainment.