Ángel de venganza

...was the musician who was able to make saxophone sounds come out of a trumpet.

Step 1: Watch Ms .45

Step2: Read the Wikipedia page for Zoe Lund

Step 3: Watch Ms .45 again, now that you know a little about her. Amazing.

RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria: Acting - 1/1 Casting - 1/1 Directing - 1/1 Story - 1/1 Writing/Screenplay - 1/1

Total Base Score = 5

Modifiers (+ or -) Originality: 1 Standout Performances: 1 ( Zoe Lund )

Total RealReview Rating: 7

Thana (not Hannah as one might mistake to hear) hasn't had a good lot in life. She doesn't have really any family or friends, she works for pittance as a clothing workshop, and can't speak as a mute. She's also very attractive, and one day walking home she's pulled into an alley and raped by a man in a mask. She staggers home, bewildered by the whole thing, but before she can get her bearings she comes upon *another* man, in her apartment before she got home, who was in the midst of theft. He instead decides to go ahead for the rape. Twice in one day? Fat chance of that - she finally takes her moment, and Thana hits the guy to the ground and then with an iron kills him.

From then on the film takes its beat as something of a quandary, but a truly fascinating one: this isn't quite an exploitation flick, but it's not really a vigilante action-revenge picture like Death Wish, and yet it has hints of both. It's like Abel Ferrara and his writer St. John took the revenge element of Death Wish, of taking it to the street to rid the scum, but took it also to another level like in Polanski's Repulsion. Here Thana isn't some expert at self-defense, and shouldn't be as good as she is with the .45 she pulls off of the rapist #2. But she is good at getting her chance to kill people, and she does, even if they haven't really done anything to her (one of the more curiously ambiguous scenes is when Thana meets a guy at a bar, he keeps rambling outside about strangling his cat, she's about to shoot and it doesn't fire, he takes the gun and instead of shooting her shoots himself)

True, not all of the acting Ferrara is able to gather up totally works; some of them, like two actors playing a pimp and a prostitute (even for one scene) falls flat as believable streetwise (better is Thana's boss, a creep who wants to have his way with her but hides it under a thin veneer of professionalism and care). And it may also be true that Ferrara's film paints men- hell, just most people- as jerks or losers or total dogs, and really who will miss them when they're gone? It's that part of it that makes it an exploitation flick, especially in that one sequence at night when Thana goes out and kills the most amount of people (a whole group of gang-bangers in the park, an Arab and his chauffeur in a limo, the cat strangler). And as part of tugging at the weakest of heart strings, there's a neighbor who has a little dog and (gasp) will the dog make it through the end of the film?

A lot of this is pulp, but it's well directed and given a score that is fresh and cool in an early NY 80's sort of way. And when we do take it most seriously it's when looking right into Thana's face and her eyes, which start off terrified and dazed and a little in a surreal mindset (watch when she is surrounded by (over) concerned co-workers, or when she's in the bathroom and sees a hand near her breast that isn't there), and soon turns cold and bloodless. It's almost a symbolic kind of turn, hence even the name Thana which dates back to Greek mythology. This isn't someone to root for, which is what mucks up the traditional angle of a B-movie. Instead Ferrara is after something a lot deeper. Ms. 45 is action and a bit of horror (dismembered body anyone?) but it's also a sad tale of a girl without any hope, who is going crazier by the day and dresses out in black like a spider out on the prowl.

It's got some bad-ass dimensions of drama, and a rather wicked climax involving slow-motion and Ms. 45 herself going in her maniac mode in a nun costume, and is mostly marred by a few sub-par supporting performances (albeit a very low-budget indie from NYC) and a few little unsatisfying scenes.

This early Abel Ferrara effort fits into the rape revenge tradition. Nonetheless it's far more interesting than most films of its type, and certainly far better overall than the vast majority of them. In fact, perhaps it is THE very best of them all. Definitely worth a watch if you're interested in these kinds of films even just a little. As far as gritty vigilante films go, this is definitely in the upper echelon. The more I watch this film, the more I appreciate it. There are many things to enjoy within it. Even some very funny moments. There is great artistic vision shown here from both the director and writer. Far more than you'd normally see in these types of films. Even if you notice the way the film is shot, it's quite great. It really is a beautifully crafted film in many ways, despite the dark and grimy themes and atmosphere. I remember the first time I ever saw this was with an old girlfriend, and after the film she said, "Well that was cute.". Warning: Your companion may not feel the same.

8/10.

A shy and mute seamstress (Zoe Lund) goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day, in which she takes to the streets of New York after dark and randomly kills men with a .45 caliber gun.

The director, Abel Ferrara, who would go on to make other genre films, with this one featuring a cast of people you likely never heard of performing just as well as "real" stars would. Ferrara himself appears under another name as a rapist, and Steve Dash also appears under another name, though Dash is hardly a notable figure.

The eerie music is reminiscent of Italian horror, which struck me as beautiful and perfect for such a film. Really, this is a very slick production and a much more enjoyable film than "I Spit on Your Grave". While "Grave" is the best known of the revenge films, and the one that really started the subgenre, this one just looks better. With all due respect to Meir Zarchi and Camille Keaton, this one should get more praise than it does.

I love that the insult "get bent" is used... its employment is not nearly often enough these days. I also appreciated the free advertising for the P. Chimento trucking company of Patchogue, New York. This, more than anything else, really shows that the film was made in New York City, as anyone from outside the area will have no idea what it is.

The name of Zoë Lund's character, Thana, is reminiscent of the Greek god of death, "Thanatos". Sigmund Freud used the word to refer to the human "death instinct", which leads people to take risks, seek thrills or behave destructively in ways that could lead to death. Was this intentional? I have no idea. But it is fitting.