![\"\"](\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/InHell_GloriaMundi.gif\" "\\"InHell_GloriaMundi\\"")
<\/a>Film: Excellent\/ DVD Transfer: Good\/ DVD Extras: Standard<\/p>\nLabel: One 7 Movies \u00a0\/ Region: 0 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: October 8, 2013<\/p>\n
Genre: Drama \/ Erotica \/ Experimental<\/p>\n
Synopsis: An actress is determined to complete her late husband’s film about torture, itself a critical assault against the French occupation of Algeria.<\/p>\n
Special Features: Stills Gallery<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Review:<\/p>\n One 7 Movies\u2019 DVD adds a wholly unrelated cover image and new title to Nikos Papatakis\u2019 highly political commentary on the hypocrisy of the French occupation of Algeria and the use of torture to control its native citizens.<\/p>\n Papatakis\u2019 association with the arts was long and varied, moving from bit actor to burlesque house owner and later filmmaker, yet his best known work may be producer of Jean Genet\u2019s only film, Song of Love \/ Un chant d\u2019amour<\/a><\/strong> (1950). Papatakis returned to moviemaking in 1963 with Les Abysses<\/strong>, and over the next 30 years directed three movies, and wrote scripts for another trio, but very little of his work exists on video in North America.<\/p>\n In Hell<\/strong> may be the film\u2019s North American debut, and One 7 Movies have sourced a fairly mangled print for their adequate DVD. Those familiar with the label\u2019s output know what to expect: variable source prints with sometimes infuriating technical issues, loose subtitle synchronization, and teasing campaign art that\u2019s often wholly unrelated to the film; that cover image is not in the film whatsoever. In Hell<\/strong> exists in a much cleaner Italian DVD, but this edition resembles a beat up VHS tape sporting an ancient transfer of what looks like a lone print found in a producer\u2019s trunk.<\/p>\n The print and transfer\u2019s rough quality kind of adds to the film\u2019s existing docu-drama style, and while very much uncut (it\u2019s hard to imagine there\u2019s strong material out there), there\u2019s a peculiar IMDB entry stating the film\u2019s original running time at 130 mins. The Italian DVD has the same running time as this release, so the presumption is a longer French cut which may have featured more scenes flashing back to the aborted film, if not the dead director whose film the lead character is desperate to finish. (A French trailer<\/a>, emphasizing cruel French imperialism, shows scenes not in the shorter Italian edit.)<\/p>\n Papatakis gives the film-within-a film and movies-about-moviemaking sub-genres a whole new spin with this anti-establishment tale of a director\u2019s widow Galai (Olga Karlatos) who follows the directions of her missing-in action husband in preparing for her role prior to a pitch session for seed money, in order to complete the half-finished movie about the French occupation of Algeria.<\/p>\n This, however, becomes a ruse, because Galai is seemingly aware that part of her goal is to destroy a faction of the French bourgeoisie \u2013 investors and snooty colleagues who treat her as a servant and object of ridicule. Rather than bow to their torments and further humilations, she seeks to cross over from her film role into reality, and make an impact through a real-life act of total destruction.<\/p>\n Whether the film is approachable as an allegory, satire, or harsh critique of French colonialism, In Hell<\/strong> is not for the squeamish, even though it\u2019s neither a gore film nor insane erotic romp.<\/p>\n Galai\u2019s masochistic method acting includes torturing herself to achieve the right scream for her character; doing scene run-throughs with a live bomb; and humiliating herself in sexual poses, plus one act involving digestive expulsions. When she finally shows an assembly of the unfinished films to the batch of snooty investors, two sequences detail a \u2018bottle trick\u2019 sequence, and a brutal torture scene which Papatakis films from a high angle in one long take.<\/p>\n These are the film\u2019s most controversial and likely most-talked about elements, but beneath the garish and the profane is a rather brilliant, anarchic, cinematically playful storytelling technique. While not fully linear, In Hell<\/strong> has a coherent plot even though Galai\u2019s reality is never fixed. We also never know if she\u2019s being influenced by real or imagined forces, and whether Papatakis\u2019 film is one big political salvo much in the way of Dusan Makaveyev\u2019s W.R.: Mysteries of the Orgasm<\/strong> (1971) involves the signing decapitated head of a political agitator, or his Sweet Movie<\/strong> (1974) and its excrement dinner.<\/p>\n In Hell <\/strong>isn\u2019t an exercise in surrealism, but more performance art, and Karlatos is brilliant as the tormented actress who gradually loses her mind in what may be a make believe terrorist crusade orchestrated from the grave by her anarchic director \/ husband Hamidas. It\u2019s a great performance by an actress better known for more commercial genre films \u2013 the spaghetti western Keoma <\/a><\/strong>(1976), shockers Cyclone<\/strong> (1978) and Lucio Fulci\u2019s Zombie<\/strong> (1979) and Murderock<\/strong> (1984) \u2013 and a handful of TV and film appearances, notably Prince\u2019s mother in Purple Rain <\/strong>(1984).<\/p>\n As revolting \/ appalling as the sexual torture may be, it is in context with the character\u2019s shift from actress to terrorist, and Papatakis stages some brilliant sequences. The best is perhaps Galai\u2019s bank bombing run-through, which has both wit and a mounting fear that she may err and blow herself to bits as she works out the correct blocking and performance beats.<\/p>\n Papatakis also makes use of some striking decrepit locations. Galai resides in a bombed out apartment block, and her building is a disintegrating by the second. The production most likely decorated a condemned, derelict building, and the omnipresent decay provides potent subtext in her scenes prior to venturing to France for financial backing. There\u2019s also a few intriguing editorial touches, especially the zoomed-in masking of a notice informing Galai of imminent danger.<\/p>\n Nico Fidenco, no stranger to controversial films \u2013 he scored Joe D\u2019Amato\u2019s snuff-centered Emanuelle in America<\/strong> (1977) \u2013 wrote an appropriately peculiar score with upbeat cues accentuating Galai\u2019s terrorist actions, and abstract \u2018rubbing sounds\u2019 for the bomb montages. In spite of One 7 Movies\u2019 beat-up source print, Frederic Variot\u2019s cinematography is very arresting, accentuating the grunge of Galai\u2019s wretched apartment and the garishness of the ugly upscale Parisian apartment where the film terminates.<\/p>\n One 7 Movies\u2019 DVD includes a short gallery of posters and lobby cards branded with the film\u2019s original Italian title \u2013 Tortura<\/strong> \u2013 and it is strange the label chose to ignore that striking art in favour of a cover that has nothing to do with the film.<\/p>\n