e-Liza1
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!
Dominic Ambrose
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.
jtwaverly
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.
