Harockerce What a beautiful movie!

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

gerryexdlr If this was the 'best' Mexico had that year, the others must have been pretty bad. It was slow. Too many car rides and views from the back seat. The lead actor s**cked in his role. Others weren't much better. The DVD cover had "Stunning", "Powerful" and "Soul of Mexico" as praises. Bull! Not a good film and this was chosen Best Director at Cannes? Sheesh.

Raven-1969 A newly married couple struggles to make a living in an arid landscape and cinder block home with barred windows. A violent culture of drugs and illicit sex simmers beneath the surface of their surroundings and lives. As do hidden psychological wounds, meddlesome bureaucrats and unfeeling, brutal thugs for cops. They are at pains to see it, yet the couple's meager existence is belied by other family members, chirping cactus wrens and Gambel's quail, friendly little dogs, and love. The forces of light and darkness lock in a vicious battle for supremacy in this family's life. Before the film began a woman from the area of Mexico where this story is set, testified that the film is true to the way things really are. Non-professional actors carry the weight of portraying the story and do so in a compelling way. Certainly this is one of the reasons why this film won the "best director" prize at Cannes. Other reasons include beautiful cinematography and an enthralling story. This is not a film for the squeamish. The story moves slowly yet, as with the setting sun, this does not detract from its beauty.

euroGary On his BBC radio show Terry Wogan once described Kenny Rogers' country classic 'Coward of the county' (the song with the unfortunate Becky) as being "about beat-up folk". So too is 'Heli', a film set in México. Its eponymous hero is a young man who works the night shift in order to support his wife (who won't sleep with him) and child. His school-age sister is going out with an army cadet who, Heli discovers, has hidden some cocaine on the family's property...Except for a couple of action-packed sequences (including a prolonged torture scene that will have every man watching wincing in horrified sympathy) this is a slow-moving film. Common film-makers' mistakes such as shots that last just that little bit too long, and needless sequences (eg: an un-named extra larking about on a police lectern, adding nothing to the story) are in evidence. And it's hard to tell whether Heli's (mostly) passive acceptance of what happens to him and his family is because he is a decent man beaten down by a corrupt system (at one point even the female police officer tries to seduce him) or because actor Armando Espitia doesn't have a wide enough range for the role. But the story is interesting and the film well worth watching; and even if you don't enjoy it, there's a sex scene right at the end which you can look on as a reward for getting that far.

FilmCriticLalitRao Heli directed by Amat Escalante-a Mexican director,is gripping from the start.The first few minutes show a young albeit bulky boy being mercilessly hanged from a bridge.It is only in the later half that the same bridge makes it re-entry and events are explained.Heli avoids many clichés with which viewers have accustomed themselves.This film does not give any idle space to a serious viewer as whatever that is happening on the screen has direct bearing on film's protagonists' to progress in life.One should also note that two probable reasons explain why 'Heli' was an immense hit during 66th Cannes International Film Festival 2013.Its success owes a lot to its choice of location as well as its shock effects.One gets to see remote parts of Mexico where not much choice is offered to anybody who wishes to make sense of everything around.Although it does not talk explicitly,role of sex and violence in Mexican society is also discussed in this film.For example: pornographic violence featured in the film is not easy to watch but one cannot also have other methods of dealing with violence in contemporary Mexico.Lastly,it is the episodic nature of different events in the life of a young man which makes an attempt to make screenplay as coherent as possible.However,it is just a mystery why these episodes are unable to make a coherent whole of this film ? It is this weakness which would irk many viewers.