VHS : Death And The Maiden [1995]

Rating: - Incredible
Roman Polanski has a knack for great film making: "Knife in the Water," "Bitter Moon," and "Repulsion" are just some, thought they share a common thread--that of human corruption and a road you'd never think yourself on. "Death and the Maiden" is no different in this respect, though this is one of his more brilliant productions. While Sigourney Weaver is a perfect neurotic wife who thinks she recognizes a former torturer of hers (that her husband brings home, nevertheless), it is Ben Kingsley (the alledged torturer) who steals the show. Not since his "Ghandi" have I been so riveted to the screen. Watching this, you'll think he's just great, but wait for the last fifteen minutes of the film and he will blow your mind completely. The camera stays on him as he transforms himself into five or six different people. Man, does this ending pack a wallop! One of my favorite all-time movies, this one, along with "Knife in the Water" are at the top of my list.

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Rating: - A great performance of Sigourney Weaver in a very good but difficult movie
Before going further, let it be said that this is not a movie you will want to watch on a date Friday evening. This is very tough stuff and can be a little depressing. There are only three people playing in this movie (this is an adaptation of a piece of theatre): the woman (Sigourney Weaver), her husband (Stuart Wilson) and the guest (Ben Kingsley). It happens in a non precised country in Latin America after the revolution, and the husband was just asked by the newly elected democratic president to chair a commission investigating the crimes of the fallen military regime. The woman is a former victim of the junta - we know she was imprisoned for years and tortured at many occasions. And then arrives the guest... and his voice seems familiar to the woman. She believes that he is the man who tortured her years ago and decides to make him pay. What happens next? Well, you will have to watch the movie, because all of this was just the beginning....
All the cast is great but Sigourney Weaver is simply incredible. This is one of her most powerful performances ever. If you are a fan, you simply MUST see this movie.
This is a very difficult movie. If you search to have some fun and spend a nice evening, it should not be your first choice. But if you need something harder, more difficult, more ambitious, different from the mainstream works, well, here it is. The movie has also a very clear "Polanski touch", which I personally always loved - and that means it is very smart, very surprising, but somehow just a little bit creepy... Be warned, this is powerful stuff, but really, really worth your time.

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Rating: - Intense, distrubing, depressing
I would not recommend this for most people. It is painful to watch and artificial, very stagy (not surprising since it was adapted from a stage play written by Ariel Dorfman), and ultimately not redemptive (as the video jacket claims), but perverse and depressing.

Sigourney Weaver gives a raw-edged performance almost entirely in one key. She plays a woman (Pauline Escobar) who was raped and tortured by a Nazi-like doctor named Roberto Miranda played by Ben Kingsley in some unidentified South American country. Since Dorfman is from Argentina, we'll assume it's Argentina. Certainly this sort of thing happened there during the time of the "Disappeared." The other member of the three-person cast is her husband (Gerardo Escobar) played by Stuart Wilson. Roman Polanski directed.

The title comes from Franz Schubert's string quartet of the same name which was played by the doctor as he tortured Pauline.

This is a polarizing film. Women who have ever suffered anything at the hands of men will identify with Weaver's character and may find the film brilliant. Most men will not even be able to watch it.

There is some ambiguity in the ending, as to whether Roberto really was guilty as charged. My opinion is that he was without doubt. The final scene (which I can't describe since it would give away too much) is really a statement about the nature of horror and how it can live on amidst the most familiar settings, a man patting his son on the head, some people attending a concert.

I thought Wilson gave the most balanced performance. He had the most difficult role since it required subtlety and that he walk a fine line between accepting something monstrous in his presence or disbelieving his wife. He also had to be a weak sister, as it were, to the dominating presence of Sigourney Weaver who played most of the film with a gun in her hand. Yet he had to provide the strength of character and to symbolize the sense of justice. Kingsley looked very much the part of a sneaky little sickie, and his usual caged intensity was much in evidence.

Bottom line: any film that exposes the atrocities committed by the right wing dictatorships that dominated South and Central American during the Cold War is on the side of the angels; however most viewers I think will find this too intense and disturbing. Beware of some crude sexuality.

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Rating: - A Must See Film
This is a brilliant adaptation of Ariel Dorfmans play of the same title. It's an exceptionally well acted, thought provoking film. I first saw it at a showing to raise money for Amnesty International - and it was a very fitting film for that purpose. It isn't a confortable subject matter - but I recommend this film to anyone, and particularly those with an interest in Human Rights causes.

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Rating: - Watch this film
This is one amazing film. Roman Polanski can get pretty over indulgant at times, but three actors keeps him on a fine leash and he shows the mastery he is capable of. The synopsis of the plot you can read elsewhere, but no-one can capture in writing the sense of tension in this screenplay. Yes, a dark film. But if you haven't seen the dark side, how else can you appreciate the light - Please excuse the unintended unintentional Jedi Knight references! ;)

Make your evening. Invite some friends around, open some wine, turn the lights down very low and watch this film. The stunned silence at the end of it is worth it, believe me.