Saturday, August 26, 2000
Title: Angels Of The Universe [Englar Alheimsins]
Cast: Ingvar E. Sigurdsson, Baltasar Kormakur, Bjorn Jorundur Fribjornsson, Hilmar Snae Gudnason, Margaret Helga Johannsdottir
Director: Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
Angels Of The Universe is an Icelandic film based on a book, the true story of the life of the author's brother. To add to this there is the fact that the director is a friend of the author and as such also knew the main character of the story. The easy comparison that is made is to One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, in that there is a certain amount of the film set in a mental hospital with the mental patients this is fair, beyond that the two are rather different.
In some ways its funny that I ended up seeing this film this night - Angels Of The Universe played as part of the 54th Edinburgh International Film Festival and I was torn between this and a horror film. But it was more the ideas behind the horror film than a sense that I would find it horrific. By contrast if we want to get into what does scare me then I would need to say mental illness - the thought of losing my mind, or losing it and being found out is a big fear, and a real fear when you hear figures that suggest 1 in 5 people suffer from mental illness at some point (that's a remembered figure so don't quote me on it). With that there are certain points in this film of one man's descent into madness that are really distressing and disturbing!
The film starts with Paul as an outgoing young man, he seems to be a student and is after the attentions of a girl he sees in the library. They hit it off and a relationship starts - but Paul's best friend warns him it won't last and she is only slumming it. Despite this warning he is hit hard when it proves to be the case. From there it is a quick descent - from inexplicable rejection, hiding in his room he becomes increasingly temperemental and unbalanced. An incident with a knife leads him to police attention. His family are increasingly concerned and frightened. He shaves his head - not in a Natural Born Killers "I am cool and dangerous" cliché - rather in a frantic, forceful and downright disturbing manner. Twitches and turns while seeing visions and receiving messages from god to build an ark. There seem to be few options left and Paul ends up in a local mental hospital where he is diagnosed as schizophrenic.
The remainder of the film is his interaction with other patients and staff, along with attempts at rehabilitation leading to a couple of returns to his family. In the hospital he sits around with a man who writes all the songs for the Beatles and sends them telepathically, a man who believes he is Hitler, and a man who has uncovered incredible scientific secrets but has a conspiracy against him to keep his discoveries secret. With the patients there are various scenes which show how they live, but also conversations that examine how they see themselves - varying from Paul's description of them all as angels of the universe in contrast with a fellow patient's description of walking shadows. There is some humour to be had with the visit to see if one of them can take over the job of Icelandic president when the current president retires, when they all go to the most expensive restaurant in town and live it up to then consciously use their status as mental patients to get out of paying. But there is also dealing with the reality that sometimes people in this situation die, then the extension of this that you don't have to have shown the signs and been locked up to find yourself backed in to position you can no longer live with.
A couple of times Paul gets to move home for awhile, but this never seems to last for various reasons. But in showing this we chart the relationship between him and his family before and during his illness. For me it is interesting to see his family as people, people who are portrayed with compassion. So often there is the cliché of shouting matches and bad parents - and while there are confrontations I don't think we are left in doubt that his family care for him. They are concerned for him and confused by him, and with a couple of small children and his violent temper they also know a fear of him - all of which combines at once in a very palpable fashion.
Mixing I the dialogue and imagery there are some strong ideas and suggestions which work to add more texture to the central piece. Chased through the streets with a knife Paul runs across a lake, clearly there are posts - but the effect of him "walking on water" while those around him flail is striking. His visions and those of his mother mix with weird incidents - a dream of horses, a man saying that Paul was watched over by angels, the appearance of Jesus to deliver the message of the ark, and most tellingly the man as the film builds to an end who turns to Paul and tells him he has not been looking after his angels!
With out a doubt this is a strong film, one which left a turmoil of thoughts for the isolated journey home. A sensation comparable to that I felt after seeing Claire Dolan - but there I was overwhelmed with the sparseness of characters and their lives here it was more to do with the real and understandable confusion and sorrow. Certainly leaving me with more to think about than the horror film I actually did go and see the night after.
RVWR: PTR
August 2000
