Hell

Tim Fehlbaum, Screenwriter and Director of "Hell", has sure taken a difficult and unrewarding challenge upon himself: to make an original post-apocalyptic film, and a good one. And despite what those who enjoy complaining would say - he has done a pretty good job!

Unlike most films, "Hell" keeps things disturbingly realistic, portraying a world in the near by future where global warming has made temperatures dangerously high. All the too-familiar motives of such films are there - scavenging for food/gas, water as the highest currency, some people turned to savages by the harsh reality, distrust and bonding, all of it. And even so, after The Road, I Legend, Book of Eli etc etc, Hell still proved to be very enjoyable. It even has some vampire-films motives, especially "Stake-Land".

Acting, screenplay, cinematography, all weren't innovative, but still good. All in all I've always enjoyed the more realistic post-apocalyptic films, and Hell is definitely one worthy of watching!

To begin I must say that I didn't know that hell means bright in German. I always thought this movie was called HELL by the meaning it has in English and this was the idea of the director. Reading some previous comments I see it's not like that… It seems the director wanted this film to be called HELL just by the brightness and not for the other meaning. But after watch it I can say that in my opinion it can be called by both meanings because both of them fit very well in the plot and the message of the movie! Brightness is constant in the movie, but they also live in a world that really seems like hell!

The plot begins in the year 2016, after a sudden and brutal increase of the global temperature of the Earth. The Sun is brighter than ever and the water is rare and valuable. It's hard to survive in this apocalyptic scenario because people are in a constant search for food and water… We can't see any vegetation (just the trunks of the trees) and the animals died thirsty.

HELL is an action film that resembles to MAD MAX, mostly in the scenario and this background of the apocalyptic world. But it's well done; the settings are really good as they provide us a vision of a desert world full of death and not life; Action is effective and suspenseful, some good fighting scenes are done; Directing and camera work is very nice too. Acting is also fine.

No matter what the language I do love a post apocalyptic thriller.

This has an excellent start, and kept my interest right up to the credits. The backdrop is set very efficiently in the first few minutes of the opening scene, where we meet the main characters.

The characters are intriguing (and as it turns out) quite believable.

As the title may suggest this particular post apocalyptic world is fairly hazardous (aren't they always) and there is a good degree of tension as the characters try to deal with a hostile environment, and each other.

Great acting, no special effects. We aren't treated to a deserted Berlin sequence but the settings in the countryside are simple and professionally handled - you can almost taste the dust.

The only two gripes I have with the film is about a quarter of it is shot in darkness which I don't approve of, and I wanted the action to last a bit longer.

If you are a fan of post apocalyptic movies then this is a must see

Probably the best thing about Hell is that it shows how The Road would turn out without the media frenzy: almost unnoticed and scoring averagely on IMDb. This might not be the best way to start the review, yet as the movie progresses one starts wondering whether Hell's authors could have chosen a different path. Either way, the result is a straightforward post-apocalyptic thriller.

The advantage of not having a major studio in the background is the absence of pretentiousness. If you're into such movies, you'll like it. If not, you won't go to see it in the first place. In my opinion, this only adds to Hell's artistic merit.

I can't tell whether the title (meaning bright in German) is a wordplay on purpose or a slip of a tongue, but this is a pleasant surprise for a German-Swiss production.

To start my review: "Hell" means "Bright" in English.

It is a rare thing, even nowadays, a German film studio realizes a serious, dark film which has nothing to do with World War 2 or family drama.

Hell plays, without giving away any spoilers, in an post-apocalyptic scenario in which the sun burned everything down. People try to survive. You know this kind of scenario from movies like "Mad Max" or "The Book Of Eli". However, the sun aspect gives it an unused touch.

The actors do a great job in making us believe they are in big trouble. In the bright parts as in the dark parts of the movie. The antagonists are also believable in the movie's logic.

This is the first feature film directed by Tim Fehlbaum. On the one hand, you can argue he is copying big Hollywood films, which I would not disagree. On the other hand I find it kind of brave to show the German audience that a post apocalyptic movie can also be made in Germanym, with near Hollywood quality and with a small budget of about 5 million Euros. The style is amazing, the scenario believable.

Plus, the film does not show any CGI effects beside the extreme sun bloom, which is done digitally and very good. Everything else is based on the characters and their "path" to survive and find better places to live. The story itself is not very innovative but decent to watch, thrilling and without major flaws.

As a conclusion: This movie is underrated in my opinion. It is brave to make such a movie in Germany, if you compare most of the other German movies from the past 5 years, excluding "Die Welle (The Wave)". "Hell" is well-paced, has good actors and a good director who knows what he is doing. If you like films like this, you will not get bored.

Sure, "Hell" never reaches Hollywood-big-budget blockbuster quality and the sets are pretty limited. However, as a genre film, which are SO rare in Germany, it works and it is sad this film did not have success at the box office. It deserved better. Especially when looking at the future of German filmmaking, which I do not want to be Til Schweiger-only.

8 / 10