I saw this film as part of the "Imagine" film festival 2011 in Amsterdam. The festival synopsis sounded attractive, as did most of the reviews. We were forewarned about loose story lines that would combine eventually, but not until some 5 minutes before the end. That was indeed a fact, but it does not give the film makers any right to leave us guessing what the continuous murdering is all about, and where all this waste of human life is heading.
Something else that added to the confusion was the repeated switching between flash forward and flash back. We got some help from one of the main characters, who did us some service by shaving off his beard after he escaped from prison. This kept us on track to decide every time we saw him, whether it happened before or after his prison time. But that was all we got, as far as I know. If there were any other clues to bring order in the scenes, I certainly overlooked these.
Though my leniency was stretched to the limit for 84 minus 5 minutes, I still have a few positive comments. That concerns the casting and acting of the characters involved, and in particular the main role players who were assigned to carry the story. Needless to say that they got themselves into a mere Mission Impossible, but nevertheless did their best to create something watchable out of the confusing (for me, that is) script.
All in all, I could only give a "hopeless" rating for the public prize competition when leaving the theater. I see no need for watching a movie that has no consistent plot, no story line that we can derive from the events, and no underlying motive to see a series of people killed in cold blood. All these bad things, if necessary to show, should have an inherent meaning or some higher purpose. Even worse, after the final 5 minutes where everything was tied together, I still cannot explain the overload (or should I say: overkill) of dead bodies. If you want my opinion: do not go, or you will be disappointed.
Something else that added to the confusion was the repeated switching between flash forward and flash back. We got some help from one of the main characters, who did us some service by shaving off his beard after he escaped from prison. This kept us on track to decide every time we saw him, whether it happened before or after his prison time. But that was all we got, as far as I know. If there were any other clues to bring order in the scenes, I certainly overlooked these.
Though my leniency was stretched to the limit for 84 minus 5 minutes, I still have a few positive comments. That concerns the casting and acting of the characters involved, and in particular the main role players who were assigned to carry the story. Needless to say that they got themselves into a mere Mission Impossible, but nevertheless did their best to create something watchable out of the confusing (for me, that is) script.
All in all, I could only give a "hopeless" rating for the public prize competition when leaving the theater. I see no need for watching a movie that has no consistent plot, no story line that we can derive from the events, and no underlying motive to see a series of people killed in cold blood. All these bad things, if necessary to show, should have an inherent meaning or some higher purpose. Even worse, after the final 5 minutes where everything was tied together, I still cannot explain the overload (or should I say: overkill) of dead bodies. If you want my opinion: do not go, or you will be disappointed.