9/Tenths

On Saturday, February 25th, 2006, in the beautiful city of Sedona, I had the privilege to view the film 9/TENTHS-a gripping story about the will to survive at whatever costs. They say any type of warfare is hell, including terrorist activity. You have everything, and before you know it, it gets taken away. How will you manage? As the tag line reads, "How far will you go to survive?" This is the premise of the film-the choices one makes, to survive.

Terrorist attacks on big cities cause the white collar, William (Henry Ian Cusick) and his wife, Jessica (Gabrielle Anwar) to relocate to their newly purchased ranch in the middle of nowhere. When they arrive, they find ranch hand, Elias (David L. Ortiz), already living there. As they battle over the property, massive attacks by terrorists destroy the outside world they once knew. What happens to necessities? What happens to class? What happens to law? What happens in the end...you decide.

All three actors, Anwar, Cusick and the extremely handsome, Ortiz, were exceptional in their roles. Writer Michele McGuire's well-written characters are dynamic and their arcs, very intriguing. The rest is left to be fleshed out by the director and actors. The characters are very much human. At times you love a certain character, other times you were disappointed and felt a little bit or pity or hatred towards him/her. The lovely and talented Anwar helps carry the film with her sincere and revealing portrayal of Jessica. Watching it, I kept thinking, "What would I do?"

The music of this film, composed by Brian Ralston, is a character as well. It is a driving force. Whether it is dramatic underscore, terrific flamenco arrangements or a beautiful recurring soprano voice, the music keeps the film's action moving and intense.

Unlike many films being made today, this film by director, Bob Degus, actually has a few things to say. What will you hear? It would be a mistake to miss this brutally honest and intriguing piece of work.

-B.K. Vargas

This is quite possibly the worst film I have EVER SEEN.....I read the reviews and thought that as some people had given it 10 out of 10 it would have some substance....how wrong could I be??? After about an hour I seriously thought that I had witnessed the most pathetic loser of a character ever in the history of film making.... The concept of the film is quite good....the actual film and the end product is terrible. I fast forwarded the last quarter of this film because I was laughing so much at how pathetic it was, but felt I really should make it to the end....why did I do that??? The ending is as bad as the rest of the film. There are NO redeeming features of this trash....apart from the initial idea/story which was OK, just a shame the outcome was so bad. Do yourselves a favour and avoid this film like the plague.

I gave this movie a 5 because the film had decent actors who played believable roles in moments in the film, beat by beat, when situations seemed inhumanly disloyal and emotionally chaotic, they pulled off good scenes consistently.

The plot and story itself is loosely constructed around the 3 strong characters who develop throughout the film. Also some of film is simply inconsistently edited and a few scenes appear chopped up out of sequence noticeably. Fortunately, this only happens a few times in the movie, about halfway in and towards the end of the film.

Overall, it's worth a watch if you like TV like dramas such as Flight 93/United 93 and similar.

I was given the tremendous honour of previewing this film. This is a piece of work that I have patiently been waiting 2+ years to see, and I was not disappointed in any way. Ms. McGuire has written, and Mr. Degus has delivered, a contemporary sketch of humanity stripped down to the essentials.

This is a story of two men and one woman, fending for themselves in the aftermath of significant terrorist attacks on major cities in the US. The viewer voyeuristically watches the layers of humanity peel back. The sense of entitlement gives way to desperation for basic human needs.

It's an unsettling concept to consider ourselves becoming refugees of sorts...so much so, the average person refuses to even entertain such an idea. This film provokes those thoughts...just how far would you go?

While the suggestion was being made, the lesson being learned, I was thoroughly entertained by the fierce and intense performances of this trio of actors. They bled their roles. On so many levels and at different times you loved and hated each character. Their ability to evoke those emotions is a testament to the performers' deep-seated talents, and the skill of their director to elicit that intensity from each actor for their character.

The setting, simple yet sufficient, was the fourth character. It leant much to the tale at hand, at times becoming more important than the people inhabiting it. The music was the fifth and most poignant character, drawing out the passion of the subject matter in a very subtle manner.

9/Tenths cannot be categorized as a "feel good" movie. Yet it's an important story portrayed in a bold, skillful and artistic manner. I highly recommend this film.

Mianne Tripp, RN

I knew nothing of this film before I saw it. That said, I did not connect well to it. The concept is sound and makes you think about what would happen in a nation-wide terrorist attack, but the characters and story didn't fit well with this concept. It seems the characters and the battle over the house were threw into the mix to make it more interesting. All the characters have flaws. At one point I got so angry at all the characters, I had to turn it off and take a break - very unusual for me. There are a limited number of characters in the movie, making it look extremely low budget. Normally I don't mind as long as the movie is good... Point I'm getting at is the ending: I literally forced myself to painfully watch the last quarter of the movie just to see how the movie would end - who would die, who would get the house, who would she end up with, etc.. Needless to say, the ending was putrid. Looks to me like they ran out of budget $ at the last min. and ended it abruptly. No closure in any of the main conflicts - but they do it in a way that washes their hands of accountability and leaves it up to the audience. (ie: leaves it open to the audience to think about 'what's next for them...?') Not a good way to end this movie in my opinion. Several hours after seeing the movie I thought to myself 'You still have to finish watching that movie', but then I remembered that I did finish it, but it didn't feel like I did because it was such a poor ending. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't.