2003-01-19

The best thing about the film Heaven is its visual beauty and grace. The screenplay is based on an unfinished script that Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski left behind after his death. Kieslowski wrote and directed the Three Colours Trilogy (Blue, Red, and White) and Decalogue, a TV miniseries (actually, a maxi-series) based on the Ten Commandments, and was well-known for his thoughtful explorations of the nature of morality and the ambiguity that sometimes exists in the separation between good and evil. After Kieslowski�s death, the screenplay was finished by Krzysztof Piesiewicz, and German filmmaker Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) agreed to direct.

The result, rather than being a ragged patchwork, as can sometimes happen with such films (see Spielberg�s clumsy take on Kubrick, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence), is a smooth, seamless meditation on what happens when an individual tries to correct corruption at the group level and realizes that it can�t be done.

The story is fairly simple: Philippa (Cate Blanchett), an English teacher, has been trying to tell the police in Turin for over a year about the businessman/drug kingpin, Mr. Vendici, who was responsible for her husband�s death and the death of several students at her school. The police have ignored her calls and letters, because the police chief is corrupt and is in league with Mr. Vendici. Therefore, Philippa sets a bomb in Mr. Vendici�s office, intending to kill only him. Unfortunately, a cleaning lady empties the wastebasket the bomb is in, and brings it into an elevator, where it goes off, killing her, a man, and his two young daughters. Philippa is arrested and brought to police headquarters for questioning.

The rest of the film revolves around the relationship that develops between Philippa and the young police officer (Giovanni Ribisi) who agrees to serve as her translator during her interrogation. Eventually, he comes to believe her story and agrees to help her escape.

Blanchett is excellent, as usual. There is a scene at the beginning of the film where she first learns that she has killed four innocent people that is absolutely amazing. I can�t remember the last time I saw such a convincing portrayal of realization and devastation. Ribisi is also good, although he has the difficult task of playing someone who is na�ve and simplistic, yet not stupid. The cinematography is very beautiful�we are treated to many lush aerial shots of green and yellow fields and rolling hills in what is supposed to be Tuscany (I think some of it was shot in Germany). The score, mainly piano, is also lovely, and its spare solemnity adds a particularly poignant note to many of the scenes between Philippa and Filippo, especially when they are on a train riding out to the countryside.

Contrary to what one would expect from a movie with such violent subject matter, Heaven is a dreamy, beautiful film. There�s not much to the plot�what I�ve told you already pretty much covers it. I was intrigued by the way the storyline moved away from Philippa and Filippo�s fate as fugitives to the strong, almost otherworldly bond that connects them�their names, the fact that they share a birthday, and the eerie way that they almost grow to resemble each other at the end of the movie.

The trailer to Heaven states from the outset that it is a fable. Perhaps this is the best way to look at the film, as a fable that tells us about what happens when our sense of justice and morality becomes blurred, and the way that that can change our perception of ourselves and others. The man behind me in the theatre declared after the end credits, �Well, that would never happen.� But that�s the point. That would never happen, and yet, the choices the protagonists make are ones we are faced with every day.

Posted by polarcanuck at 8:06 p.m.

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