Careful if you're reading this, cause I will talk about the ending.
First, I want to talk about the most attractive feature of this film. I'm speaking about the production values, which are heavily relied on its cinematography, at times thought-provoking, with religious imagery, art symbolisms and tilted frames, all of them full of a color palette that results, as its content, very artistic. But it's not the kind of art that we're mostly attracted to but a weird combination of close-ups and bizarre images that tell us: we're dehumanizing this man, we're taking away what makes him human: his freedom, his desires, his right to be with his family. The movie itself then turns into a piece of art itself and, as the mirror in the musem, it becomes the reflection of a reflection. A paradox, as the artist would say: PURE ART! I haven't watched such a subtle yet provoking piece of philosophy in a movie in a long time.
Secondly, I want to talk about the director, Kaouther Ben Hania, and her amazing skills, showing without hesitating once, the hypocrisy of la crème de la crème, the upper class. I want her to become a much more known director, cause her style is just so wild, so on point. Her work needs to be watched relentlessly.
Yahya Mahayni's Sam Ali is a force of nature, a charismatic man whose ambitions moved me to tears. Isn't it something we all would do? Shout how in love we are? Cry for the ones we love, who have suffered because we're not with them? I loved him, I knew I would love him since frame #1.
Koen De Bouw, Monica Bellucci and Dea Liane are all on the same place: they deliver compelling performances that make you believe they're real people all the time.
The ending though, THAT ending is what is making people love or hate this movie. I will not say people are right when they're prefering Sam dead at the end, when ISIS covers his head and shots him, but I kinda understand what kind of movie it would have been instead: all that savage imagery, all that bravura filmmaking, all that filosophy feels kinda wasted when the happy ending comes. Personally, I prefer the movie the way it is, but if you're trying to watch some gruesome, real movie that doesn't feel like a fable, then this is not your type of movie.
First, I want to talk about the most attractive feature of this film. I'm speaking about the production values, which are heavily relied on its cinematography, at times thought-provoking, with religious imagery, art symbolisms and tilted frames, all of them full of a color palette that results, as its content, very artistic. But it's not the kind of art that we're mostly attracted to but a weird combination of close-ups and bizarre images that tell us: we're dehumanizing this man, we're taking away what makes him human: his freedom, his desires, his right to be with his family. The movie itself then turns into a piece of art itself and, as the mirror in the musem, it becomes the reflection of a reflection. A paradox, as the artist would say: PURE ART! I haven't watched such a subtle yet provoking piece of philosophy in a movie in a long time.
Secondly, I want to talk about the director, Kaouther Ben Hania, and her amazing skills, showing without hesitating once, the hypocrisy of la crème de la crème, the upper class. I want her to become a much more known director, cause her style is just so wild, so on point. Her work needs to be watched relentlessly.
Yahya Mahayni's Sam Ali is a force of nature, a charismatic man whose ambitions moved me to tears. Isn't it something we all would do? Shout how in love we are? Cry for the ones we love, who have suffered because we're not with them? I loved him, I knew I would love him since frame #1.
Koen De Bouw, Monica Bellucci and Dea Liane are all on the same place: they deliver compelling performances that make you believe they're real people all the time.
The ending though, THAT ending is what is making people love or hate this movie. I will not say people are right when they're prefering Sam dead at the end, when ISIS covers his head and shots him, but I kinda understand what kind of movie it would have been instead: all that savage imagery, all that bravura filmmaking, all that filosophy feels kinda wasted when the happy ending comes. Personally, I prefer the movie the way it is, but if you're trying to watch some gruesome, real movie that doesn't feel like a fable, then this is not your type of movie.