Die Strafe Gottes

The choosing by Netflix of Argentine premium male actors Peretti and Minujin to attract viewers could not make up for the wasting of a good script into a poor screenplay. Does not convey emotions, and the dramatism required in some scenes does not show up either. Dull. It is a one dimensional cardboard flick all the way.

This is a story of revenge. A slow and painful revenge.

Peretti is a great actor and he is superb in his role.

I liked the way the story is told but I didn't like the ending.

Not knowing what it was I binge watched this movie. It wasn't a waste of time. I like psychologycal thrillers and this is one of the better ones. It's not too ,,scary,, but still makes you bang your head in the wall time to time. I recommend it to the ones who liked The girl on the train, Thelma or Sightless. You do have to have a certain taste to appreciate the movie as it is but you definitely should try.

Movies based on books, on good books, usually have a good chance of being good too. That tag always makes me at least read the synopsis of the movie, and The Wrath of God won the requirements for me to watch it. 97 minutes well invested.

Psychological suspense is a genre for few folks. Its slow pace, no frantic action, no flying cars, no epic fights, can bore the restless. The complexity of the plots, marked by the subtlety of events, can scare away the unwary. The Wrath of God does not escape these characteristics, having an engaging plot and a quiet and tense rhythm.

The film fails only to better explore the investigative factor. Esteban does not raise any evidence other than disturbing coincidences. Perhaps the source work does a better job of raising more suspicions, but the book is in my reading queue.

I read some comments about Achaga and Minujín's performances being a bit meh. I liked Esteban's reserved and meticulous style and found that Luciana seemed very unbalanced, emotionally affected. The dubbing for my language may have helped to enliven the characters better.

With an acceptable length, The Wrath of God holds for as long as it takes to deliver a strong story of revenge and mourning. How far are coincidences just that: coincidences? In The Wrath of God, the outcome may surprise you.

This could be a disconcerting film to some especially those who want a clear-cut ending. Some viewers might have expected quite a different outcome.

There is no quarrel about this stance. But what the film is trying to convey is that, in real life, what seems straightforward is not necessarily so. Could it be a streak of bad luck, a string of coincidences?

It's a well-scripted film. It's engaging and the viewer is hooked to find out how it will end. It was a surprise ending but something that is totally plausible.

The main actors dish out subdued and limned performances. Macarena Achaga, Diego Peretti and Juan Mimijin deserve praise.

The film makes you think of its basic point: is perfect revenge possible? It's apropos that it makes use of Odile and Odette as a cinematic device all the more to illustrate what we take for granted: that good and evil exist in this life.