An ugly portrayal of the Welsh as a nation of rednecks
Deliverance and The Hills Have Eyes comes to Wales with outlandish and unlikely consequences with only a few redeeming features.
The plot is as basic as it comes. A group of little Englanders head to Wales for some reason. Something about the lead role, Sean, requiring the help of a dodgy wheeler dealer to save his ailing business. To be honest, the reason is peripheral, barely explored and fairly pointless.
On the way to their holiday spot in the depths of the Welsh countryside the English group encounter local psychopath Bill and things progress from there. The Devil's Bridge in the title is a local landmark which the lads visit for less than one minute of the film. Thereafter it is never mentioned nor featured again, rendering the title as pointless as much of the pre-violence plot.
If there is a message here it's ambiguous. I suspect there is one, however, since much of the senseless violence centres around Welsh nationalism and looks suspiciously indulgent coming from Cardiff born writer/director Chris Crow. Whatever the underlying subtext, the resulting movie is an ugly mish mash with little distinction between villain and victim. Certainly too little for us to give a damn who goes under the knife and who doesn't.
The characters are one dimensional, but uncomfortably true to life. It may be for this reason that I, an Englishman with a close Welsh heritage, found the whole thing to be too grim and gritty to be anything other than disturbing. For a US audience the change of locale and the perpetuated stereotype of Brits as backwards, brainless and nationalistic thugs will probably make for a fun ride, though I doubt there's enough gore to satisfy the usual crowd.
In the end, this is little more than a redneck-gone-mad slasher plucked out of the southern states and dropped into the backwaters of Wales.
The plot is as basic as it comes. A group of little Englanders head to Wales for some reason. Something about the lead role, Sean, requiring the help of a dodgy wheeler dealer to save his ailing business. To be honest, the reason is peripheral, barely explored and fairly pointless.
On the way to their holiday spot in the depths of the Welsh countryside the English group encounter local psychopath Bill and things progress from there. The Devil's Bridge in the title is a local landmark which the lads visit for less than one minute of the film. Thereafter it is never mentioned nor featured again, rendering the title as pointless as much of the pre-violence plot.
If there is a message here it's ambiguous. I suspect there is one, however, since much of the senseless violence centres around Welsh nationalism and looks suspiciously indulgent coming from Cardiff born writer/director Chris Crow. Whatever the underlying subtext, the resulting movie is an ugly mish mash with little distinction between villain and victim. Certainly too little for us to give a damn who goes under the knife and who doesn't.
The characters are one dimensional, but uncomfortably true to life. It may be for this reason that I, an Englishman with a close Welsh heritage, found the whole thing to be too grim and gritty to be anything other than disturbing. For a US audience the change of locale and the perpetuated stereotype of Brits as backwards, brainless and nationalistic thugs will probably make for a fun ride, though I doubt there's enough gore to satisfy the usual crowd.
In the end, this is little more than a redneck-gone-mad slasher plucked out of the southern states and dropped into the backwaters of Wales.
- chaugnurfaugn-269-83012
- May 1, 2012