Did anyone realize how silly the first names of the principal characters in "Heaven" sound when put together? Well that may be about the only humor coming from this starkly filmed story of a woman, Phillippa (Cate Blanchett) whose misplaced bomb doesn't kill the suave Turin drug czar whom she blames for her husband's OD death. Who does get killed are a father and his two little kids and a cleaning lady.
Having phoned in a confession to what turns out to be a bunch of carabinieri somewhat below the ethical and legal standards of their famous force, Philippa is arrested and interrogated. An Englishwoman teaching in Italy, she understands but refuses to answer in Italian.
Lucky for the interrogators a youthful new recruit, Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi of "Boiler Room" fame), son of a high-ranking carabinieri officer, is bi-lingual and he undertakes first to translate, then to facilitate the beautiful Philippa's escape from a police force that he senses but doesn't know has no intention of letting their prisoner get to a courtroom.
The developing love story only makes sense if you accept that very young police officers can fall almost instantly in love with a beautiful murderess during an interrogation. Happens every day.
What makes this film gripping is the incredible Cate Blanchett whose emotional depth makes her - and her motivation for her homicidal act - believable. Ribisi is very good too but it's Blanchett's film start to finish.
The enigmatic ending leaves viewers who care about the story with questions. Should we view sympathetically a person who wanted to smash a drug ring by taking out the honcho by explosives? Can we say "mistakes will happen" after briefly seeing flesh and blood innocent people about to be eviscerated by a bomb? Why does the confused killer have to be so stunningly gorgeous (and talented)? I don't know.
What I do know is that an incredible tie-in marketing opportunity was lost here. Why didn't the producers get a laundry detergent company to fork up big bucks (or EUROS) for product placement in the film? Blanchett's white t-shirt, worn when arrested and still on at the end of the film, remains blindingly white without the slightest spot despite a week and more of incarceration, flight and urban and rural adventures. I'd buy that stuff!!!
For the film, 7/10, for Cate Blanchett 10/10.
Having phoned in a confession to what turns out to be a bunch of carabinieri somewhat below the ethical and legal standards of their famous force, Philippa is arrested and interrogated. An Englishwoman teaching in Italy, she understands but refuses to answer in Italian.
Lucky for the interrogators a youthful new recruit, Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi of "Boiler Room" fame), son of a high-ranking carabinieri officer, is bi-lingual and he undertakes first to translate, then to facilitate the beautiful Philippa's escape from a police force that he senses but doesn't know has no intention of letting their prisoner get to a courtroom.
The developing love story only makes sense if you accept that very young police officers can fall almost instantly in love with a beautiful murderess during an interrogation. Happens every day.
What makes this film gripping is the incredible Cate Blanchett whose emotional depth makes her - and her motivation for her homicidal act - believable. Ribisi is very good too but it's Blanchett's film start to finish.
The enigmatic ending leaves viewers who care about the story with questions. Should we view sympathetically a person who wanted to smash a drug ring by taking out the honcho by explosives? Can we say "mistakes will happen" after briefly seeing flesh and blood innocent people about to be eviscerated by a bomb? Why does the confused killer have to be so stunningly gorgeous (and talented)? I don't know.
What I do know is that an incredible tie-in marketing opportunity was lost here. Why didn't the producers get a laundry detergent company to fork up big bucks (or EUROS) for product placement in the film? Blanchett's white t-shirt, worn when arrested and still on at the end of the film, remains blindingly white without the slightest spot despite a week and more of incarceration, flight and urban and rural adventures. I'd buy that stuff!!!
For the film, 7/10, for Cate Blanchett 10/10.