Heli, a former CineMart project, is a hard-as-nails, pitch-black drama about unavoidable violence in Amat Escalante’s totally corrupt home country of Mexico, where drug dealers wear police uniforms and female cops show their breasts when desperately begged for help.
A good kid finds a stash of cocaine in the water tank on his house. He flushes it down the drain. Next day, the front door is smashed down by men in police uniforms. Father is immediately mown down, the boy and his 12-year-old sister bundled away.
The girl disappears from view, the boy is delivered to a house where kids are gaming in front of the TV. The Wii-sticks are exchanged for pieces of wood with which they then beat up the poor boy. His penis is set alight. ‘What did this one actually do?’ one of the boys asks. ‘No idea,’ another answers. Escalante, who had previously made an impression with Sangre and Los bastardos, was given an award as best director at the Cannes festival.
Film details
- Productielanden
- France, Germany, Mexico
- Jaar
- 2013
- Festivaleditie
- IFFR 2014
- Lengte
- 105'
- Medium/Formaat
- DCP
