Fighting demons to discover God
Links: AFFF / imdb
It's usually a good indication when I leave the cinema silently and not wanting to talk about the film that I have just seen with other people who have seen the same film. It is almost like me and the film need some time for ourselves, to reflect, question, argue and fight over the merits and flaws.
Martyrs is many things. For starters, it consists of two distinct parts. The first part is a scary revenge horror film where fighting your inner demons is taken literally. There is a lot of drive and impulse in this part, with unapologetic violence. The second part is a sick study into the process of creating a martyr (in more than one sense) and lessons to be learned.
The topic seems to be surfacing often, but the question arises here as well: is this torture porn and nothing more, or is that just the outer shell of a more intricate story being told? I think the way the film is structured and given the climax (which I won't give away here) this is not yet another mindless violent film. In a way Martyrs throws us back to a time before the Stone Age, it questions how our behaviour is susceptible to the interaction with our environment, and how it can create a monster or a god.
I still feel some reservations preventing me to call this a masterpiece. The twist in the final act gives everything that happened before a broader context and reason which is excellent. But at the same time it feels a bit like the writer/director cheated by trying to link Big Ideas (the meaning of life etc) to a nihilistic concept like Evil.
Rather than exploring the notion that some people derive a sickening satisfaction from being in complete control of someone else - evil as a noumenon, a thing-in-itself (see also Meta-ethics) - he almost suggests to understand altruistic motives (and he judges them as well).
But perhaps I shouldn't confuse my own world view and that of others with the game of chess the director has offered in the form of this film. I can analyze the moves, express my opinion on the path that was followed, offer alternatives and marvel or rebuke its outcome. The fact alone that the film still leaves me wondering and rethinking what I have seen on the screen makes this film stand out.
Rating: 9
Showing posts with label martyrs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label martyrs. Show all posts
description: Quite bad for a romantic comedy ;-) -> girls, torture, 15 years later, revenge, family killed, torture basement, group of torturers (martyrs) over decades, ghosts, skin, afterlife.
(Geoffrey): (rating 8)
How do you review a movie like this? It is not a movie for the weak stomache people. How can you give a movie like this a high rating? Some sick stuff happens in the movie and for what? That's a little bit the idea. For a horror/torture movie, the story is quite strong. It is not a horror movie like "look what we can do with bodies/women". Women are mostly the victims as far as I can judge horror movies and men far less. Why actually? I guess it is not very convincing is a man is tortured. Women can look/act more dramatically. They say women can endure more pain, is that really the case? I don't know, but hardly male torturing in this movie.
Anyway, getting back to this movie, I don't go into much details, since I don't need to. Like my other descriptions, when reading the words, you probably get the idea what the movie is all about.
The torturing in the movie is well set in motion. You see some bad stuff, but it is not overdone with blood and gore, unless needed. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of blood and gore but it was done at the right moment, at the right place. As for the story, there is also a good reason why it all happens. Of course it is no excuse, but the reason makes the story very good and therefore I give it an 8. I wouldn't mind never seeing this movie again though.
(Geoffrey): (rating 8)
How do you review a movie like this? It is not a movie for the weak stomache people. How can you give a movie like this a high rating? Some sick stuff happens in the movie and for what? That's a little bit the idea. For a horror/torture movie, the story is quite strong. It is not a horror movie like "look what we can do with bodies/women". Women are mostly the victims as far as I can judge horror movies and men far less. Why actually? I guess it is not very convincing is a man is tortured. Women can look/act more dramatically. They say women can endure more pain, is that really the case? I don't know, but hardly male torturing in this movie.
Anyway, getting back to this movie, I don't go into much details, since I don't need to. Like my other descriptions, when reading the words, you probably get the idea what the movie is all about.
The torturing in the movie is well set in motion. You see some bad stuff, but it is not overdone with blood and gore, unless needed. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of blood and gore but it was done at the right moment, at the right place. As for the story, there is also a good reason why it all happens. Of course it is no excuse, but the reason makes the story very good and therefore I give it an 8. I wouldn't mind never seeing this movie again though.
Man's fear and search for existential questions knows no limit
Links: AFFF / imdb
(here be spoilers)
I am not sure whether the phrase "existential horror" has been coined before. This is it. What starts as a raw "torture victim hunts her agressors" story slowly changes into a portrayal of man's fear of death; a group of people intentionally try create martyrs by chaining them in dark cellars and submitting them to the most gruesome of pain and torture. The state of a martyr is such that she doesn't fear anything in this world. Her body is beyond pain, her very being beyond this world. There is no limit to the horror mankind is capable of inflicting onto his fellow man to find answers to existential questions of what lies beyond this life. The fact that these are without exception answered sooner or later for everybody adds an even more gruesome aspect; Impatience can be the sole reason for inflicting these most horrendous kinds of pain. Impatience, and fear.
The film keeps an impressively fast pace throughout and though many horrible scenes are showed in gory detail they never indulgenced. I am deeply impressed and was merely doubting between an 8 and 9 because the latter has an air of "recommend it to everybody!". Which is certainly not the case here. I am not even sure I'd like to watch it myself again any time soon.
Rating: 9
Links: AFFF / imdb
(here be spoilers)
I am not sure whether the phrase "existential horror" has been coined before. This is it. What starts as a raw "torture victim hunts her agressors" story slowly changes into a portrayal of man's fear of death; a group of people intentionally try create martyrs by chaining them in dark cellars and submitting them to the most gruesome of pain and torture. The state of a martyr is such that she doesn't fear anything in this world. Her body is beyond pain, her very being beyond this world. There is no limit to the horror mankind is capable of inflicting onto his fellow man to find answers to existential questions of what lies beyond this life. The fact that these are without exception answered sooner or later for everybody adds an even more gruesome aspect; Impatience can be the sole reason for inflicting these most horrendous kinds of pain. Impatience, and fear.
The film keeps an impressively fast pace throughout and though many horrible scenes are showed in gory detail they never indulgenced. I am deeply impressed and was merely doubting between an 8 and 9 because the latter has an air of "recommend it to everybody!". Which is certainly not the case here. I am not even sure I'd like to watch it myself again any time soon.
Rating: 9