Anjo da Morte

This movie has lots going for it. I only wish it had come together better.

Several of the performances are subtle and command our full attention. Alida Valli is stark and quietly brilliant as Dona Katrina as she tells her gripping tale from the war. Feodor Atkine is both confused and valiant as he searches for answers to the murders committed by the man in red. While other roles are too subtly played or bungled entirely. Mira Sorvino is adequate as the reflective outsider who is haunted by her past. Olivier Martinez, gives a one dimensional and overplayed role as the tough cop, solving crimes on the mean streets of Sevilla.

The cinematography is rife with scenes from Sevilla's rich historic architecture and the contrasts in light and shadow give this film a brooding quality. Filming from various angles during the Easter pageant lends depth as the police narrowly miss observing the murders first hand and totally miss their motive. The action scenes however, often appear as if happening in some other story and don't fully connected to the movement of the plot.

I did find this film worth watching to the end if only to find out "who dun-nit". Watch it when you are feeling somber and a little confused.

I could not, for the life of me, follow, figure out or understand the story. As the plot advances it too stays incomprehensible. I'm going to guess and say that there was a preproduction story/plot problem that never got sorted out. The producers could never separate the many details that the novel, or any novel, has the time and space to create from the other idea, which was to make a movie about a serial killer and the killer's pursuit by the police. They ended up with too many things happening in a proscribed feature film time limit. Too bad really because they had a solid cast, a director who knows how to move things around and excellent cinematography. In fact, a well made movie that one could enjoy and relax with for a couple of hours.

In Seville, the newcomer detective Maria Delgado (Mira Sorvino) arrives during the Holy Week and is assigned to work with detectives Quemada (Olivier Martinez) and Torillo (Féodor Atkine) in the bizarre murder of twins, killed with several bullfighter knives. Maria interviews the old lady Ms. Catalina (Alida Valli), who found the bodies, while a tourist is attacked on the streets by a masked guy with a bullfighter knife. The trio connects the cases and follows the lead to a brotherhood. The director of the brotherhood is also killed by a knife, and Maria follows her instinct and visits Ms. Catalina again in a convent. Ms. Catalina discloses her sad adolescence when Spain was in Civil War and Maria gets closer to the truth.

When I saw the names of Mira Sorvino and Alida Valli, I did not hesitate and bought this DVD. The story has a promising beginning, with a weird death and decomposed corpses that recalled me "Seven", and I was expecting a good dark movie. Unfortunately, director Pepe Danquart did not take any care in developing the characters, and his only concern seems to be a tourist travel through the beautiful Seville in the "Semana Santa". Therefore, the motives of each character are very confused, leading the movie to a terrible conclusion. Mira Sorvino seems to be upset most of the time, and the DVD distributed in Brazil is awfully dubbed in English. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Anjo da Morte" ("Angel of the Death")

OK, so this isn't the greatest mystery movie to grace the screen. It did, however, have some good features that made it worth my time.

First, I lived in Andalucia for six years and have fond memories of the Semana Santa ceremonies and processions. The white robes and the pointed masks do not remind me of the Ku Klux Klan, but of centuries of tradition in Spain. Seeing that as a backdrop to the murders and the police work, led by the ever adorable Mira Sorvino, was beautiful.

Second, I love stories that weave in the evil fascists that invaded Spain. The US-backed murderers under Franco provided a credible story that explained the current murders.

Third, I was enchanted with Alida Valli in her last role as Doña Catalina. So much so that I will make it a point to see one of her earlier roles this weekend.

All in all, a good slow murder mystery with several features that made it worthwhile.

"Semana Santa" or "Angel Of Death" is a very weak movie. Mira Sorvino plays a detective who is trying to find a killer who shoots arrows in people. Mira has an Italian accent which falters from time to time. Couldn't she just speak English? All the other characters have a forced Mexican\English accent which is distracting. The dialogue is very bad and the delivery of it is wooden. The cinematography looks nice, but that's not enough to save this tripe. THIS NEXT PART OF THIS REVIEW DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!

During the climax it looks like the villain is going to get away, but then he comes back down stairs to get shot and do a cool stunt down the railing. That just shows this script has no originality whatsoever. AVOID!

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