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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Acid test, 16 November 1998 Author: Yngvar Myrvold from Tonsberg, Norway
The pot-movie to end them all, "Himmel og helvete" (Heaven and hell) was co-scripted by the director, Øivind Vennerød, who wanted an entertainment, and a Norwegian medical expert, who wanted a stern warning to young people about the evils of drug-use.The resulting bastard of a script is hilarious. The pot-heads in the audiences went crazy when the film was shown back in 69, and loudly applauded every badly acted line of dialogue. They KNEW what it was like tripping out on illegal substances. The makers of this movie most certainly did not!"H & H" follows the traditional drug-movie set-up: Young, nice couple are lured into a life of sex, addiction and crime via their first puff on a marijuana-cigarette. They end up - well, if you've read this far you already know.Every usable and unusable cliche is dragged screaming out from the closet of hoary movie-ideas: Desperate father killing sleazy, foreign drug lord who turned his daughter into dope- fiend; Smooth talking doctor airing his eloquent views on drugs in smoke-filled office; Worldy-wise police-officer ruminating about liberal university-professor advocating drugs in the presence of students; Fat old man making sexual advances on helpless, money-crazed female drug-addict.Yes, they're all here. In gruesome colour, complete with the worst special-effect ending this side of "Plan 9 from outer space". Apart from that, it's really "Reefer madness" all over again. Only worse.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Norway's best film yet, 20 July 2006 Author: pablogic from Norway
I have to strongly defend this film because it is my favorite Norwegian film. I am well aware that the filmmakers intentions and the final result is way, way, way of the mark but I don't necessarily think that matters. What I think is important is that this is a great movie to watch. Over and over again, it is that funny. Any movie that I want to watch more than three times deserves a good rating.In addition to being hilarious, Himmel og helvete is an iconographic film that really captures the time and feel of the late sixties in Oslo. I particularly like the scene at the club where a beat type poet is reading psychedelic poetry. But foremost I think the sheer morality and naivety that comes through in the film reflects the type of mentality typical for the sosialdemocratic Norway of those days.I give it eight stars, the reason being that my second favorite Norwegian film isn't better than a seven.
Not bad but kinda dull Norwegian anti-drug flick, 20 November 2009 Author: lazarillo
I read about this obscure Norwegian anti-drug film in "Wasted", one of the excellent series of film reference books from Britain's Creation Publishers, and I got a chance to see it recently with English subtitles. I have actually seen A LOT of Scandinavian movies, but it occurs me that every single one of them (with the exception of the very recent, and very excellent Swedish vampire film "Let the Right One in")has been a sex-soaked scrompfest featuring softcore porn princesses like Christina Lindberg or Marie Lilejedahl. This is not a sex film or a horror film, but actually a straight drama for the most part, albeit with some exploitative content.Two Norwegian teens meet and fall in love, at the same time they become addicted hashish. Apparently the Norwegian hash must be particularly good because the pair generally act like they're on heroin, pawning their stuff, stealing from a friend's brother, and having not-entirely-consensual sex with sleazy drug dealers. Eventually (and not a moment too soon) they descend into crime, prostitution and abject degradation. This film is not nearly as over-the-top hysterical as some American anti-drug films like "Reefer Madness", but it's also not as entertaining. As exploitation goes, it really doesn't hold a candle to a couple other hallucinatory, drug-themed sleaze-fests also profiled in "Wasted"--the Brazilian "Coffin Joe" film "Awakening of the Beast" and the insane Italian film "The Bloodstained Lawn".Far be it from me to complain about the gratuitous nudity from the pretty lead actress that occurs about an hour in (if you can stay awake that long). I do have to complain though about the gratuitous DANCING. God, these kids spend a lot of time dancing! Even when the female lead goes to a skeevy drug dealer's house to get drugs (and get raped), she has to dance with him for five minutes first. Fortunately, the music they're dancing to isn't completely awful. The title song "Heaven and Hell" (which is in English for some reason) even borders on catchy. The degradation certainly could have been a little more degrading, and this movie boasts the least intimidating group of drug dealers I've ever seen in one of these movies. One guy looks like seedier, Norwegian version of Maynard C. Krebs from the old "Dobie Gillis" TV show (or Jughead from Archie comics). This isn't a bad movie necessarily, but it is definitely kind of dull
2 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Anti drug movie which became a turkey, 17 November 2000 Author: Limehouse from Norway
This is the famous norwegian anti-drug movie which is considered to be a turkey today. There are more than one thing you can point your finger at in this movie but let's start with the actors who are pretty wooden through the whole movie. That critic goes particularly to those who are playing the leading roles. The other element is the anti-drug message in the movie. The message are "if you start with pot you'll go to hell on a heroin overdose the next day". This is what makes the movie so unrealistic and naive. Nobody believe this kind of propaganda any longer. An another strange thing about this movie are all the rather daring nude scenes. This is pretty unusual for a movie made in the 60's, even the late 60's, but I guess that the director put it there to attract more teenagers. However, the movie as a whole is watchable in a way and not totally without interest, but it's perhaps more like a curiosity though.
2 out of 7 people found the following review useful: "Reefer Madness" taken to surrealistic new heights in Sweden, 19 April 2007 Author: TimothyFarrell from Worcester, MA
Every falsehood you learned about smoking dope in school is portrayed (to the extreme) in this film. Even the most conservative don't believe anymore that one puff of marijuana will turn you into a raving and maniacal addict. Thats what makes "Heaven and Hell" so entertaining. It takes "Reefer Madness", exaggerate all that legendary film's already inaccurate information, and puts it into such an alien setting (Oslo) that it becomes an surreal experience for my western eyes. The makers of this film obviously knew nothing about their subject; like "Reefer Madness", they wanted to get away with explicit sexuality behind the guise of public warning. Ironically, the only credible information is courtesy of the Dr. Orheim character, a supposed "villain" resembling Timothy Leary.On the technical side, the film is extremely inept also. The direction is the most aesthetically dull thing since William "One-Shot" Beaudine. The acting doesn't help either. Every performer in the cast is dry and unenthusiastic (all the stereotypes about Norwegian drama are supported here). Not to mention the film contains a sex scene between two of the most physically unattractive people I've seen.Still, I enjoyed the film a lot for several reasons. In addition to being hilariously inaccurate, the film is very surreal. I've always found this kind of camp to be rather bizarre, because often it seems so distanced from any kind of logic it resembles an alternate universe. Honestly, I've never seen anything quite like this film. When the young couple drop acid at the end, this gets pushed into Ed Wood territory of unintended surrealism. This would be a great release for Mondo Macabro. (7/10)
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