In a Glass Cage
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Movie Reviews of In a Glass Cage
Movie Review: For Those Of You Seeking Uncompromising Cinema,
Summary: 5 Stars
In A Glass Cage is a piece of work that should not be overlooked. When I saw the film Apt Pupil, I thought it was a decent film with some superb acting, but sadly I felt Hollywood had watered the movie down when it came to portraying the Nazi mentality, decadence, cycle of abuse, and cruelty. After viewing In A Glass Cage, I had finally seen what the other film could have become if it were not for Hollywood politics, and since then I have kept an ever closer eye on foreign cinema.
In A Glass Cage is a both a tale of mental decay and revenge. This story revolves around a German family that has relocated to isolation in Spain after the fall of the 3rd Reich, and a young man(Angelo), who as a child was abused by the patriarch of the family, Klaus; a former SS officer. Angelo has tracked Klaus down, and catches him committing another brutal act against a youth. Klaus' brutal act sends Klaus over the mental edge, and in a fit of despair, he makes a failed suicide bid, confining him to an Iron Lung with glass windows(the Glass Cage). Angelo, having gathered some sensitive journals depicting Klaus' crimes, uses this and his past with Klaus to coerce Klaus into allowing Angelo into the household to "care" for the paralyzed and helpless Klaus.
Angelo quickly begins corrupting the family, gaining the daughter's affections and simultaneously gaining the abhorance of the family matriarch, while keeping Klaus on edge by making him relive the atrocities he has tried to escape. At first Angelo does this through reading the journals of atrocities to Klaus, and eventually Angelo descends deeper into madness, and begins committing atrocities of his own. Starting with the matriarch of the house, Angelo begins to kill, and he quickly moves on to children like is described in the journals he reads. The torture of Klaus who both adores and despises himself for the very things he is now forced to watch has come full circle. His wife is dead, his daughter is controlled by Angelo, and he is forced to relive himself.
This is where the uncompromising nature of the piece really takes hold. Children are put to death in this film, and the viewer is not spared the agony of this with implications, or off-camera violence. This happens in your face, even in the very first scene with Klaus and the youth. It places a bitter slice of Nazi cruelty right in your mouth for you to taste. Eventually this cruelty is aimed at Klaus himself, and with the eerie aid of the daughter, the mental schism becomes complete, with Angelo assuming the role of Klaus in the glass cage.
I found this film to be more of a dramatic shocker than an art-house film, but the story is solid and the acting is top notch, especially when approaching the subject matter. In a Glass Cage does not shock simply to degrade the viewer, rather presents the violencce in a "this is how it went down" fashion. Nothing is glamorized and no character is particularly likeable, they simply do as they are programmed to do for better or worse, which is right on point in the context of Naziism.
If the visually-presented subject of Nazi cruelty regarding homosexuality, petiphilia, and grotesque murder of children would get you to leave a room, then this film is not for you. But for those of you seeking uncompromising cinema....
Movie Review: Deeply startling and terrifying
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very unpleasant picture, yet it takes it's subject matter seriously and doesn't camp it up or sugarcoat the disturbing material. It's a confrontational film to be sure, so it's not for everyone. Definitely only for those with very strong stomachs. It isn't so much the explicit nature of the film that's disturbing, but rather the emotional tone and quality the film decides to take. The performances are simply fantastic, especially considering the low-budget of the film in question. The opening scene shows a man in a dank room after he has tortured the life out of a young boy. You can really see the humanity drained from both of their faces. It's truly chilling to watch, and the film never really lets up at any point afterward. It's very graphic, but in a rather honest way, so the film avoids becoming pornography. If you're a horror film fan it's a must-see. One scene pays a rather unique homage to Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA. If you like challenging films or you like shock films, this is required viewing. This ranks up with Guillermo del Toro's films as one of the best films that Spain has to offer. It's shocking, it's challenging, it's honest, it's brilliantly directed and acted, and it's one of the best films you are ever going to see.Movie Review: Captivating
Summary: 5 Stars
I ordered this movie after seeing it on several lists of the most disturbing films of all time. Last night I viewed this film in amazement at the perfect balance that was reached in this film by combining so many elements that would have seemed exploitative in other films. The direction is amazing and very artistic with interesting camera angles and incorporations of stylistic elements present in 70's European horror cinema. Unlike so many horror films that pit good against evil, there are no heroes here, no redeaming character for one to identify with. If you can read the synopsis of this movie, and still keep an open mind, I urge you to see this movie!Movie Review: A dark work of art.
Summary: 5 Stars
I will not writte a 20 page review. However, I will say that if you enjoy dark and shoking films this one is for you.Movie Review: Creepy and Not For the Squeamish
Summary: 4 Stars
The box for this DVD caught my eye immediately. I must confess I've always had a morbid interest in Nazi atrocity movies, although while watching them I usually find myself filled with disgust, and absolutely enraged that the participants of Hitler's war on decency were able to get as far as they did, and that so many of them got away with it. This film is described as a horror story and, on that level, it certainly delivers.
The narrative concerns a former Nazi named Klaus who took advantage of his position to indulge himself in the sadistic torture and sexual abuse of young boys. He continues his horrible blood-spree after the war, but in a fit of remorse, attempts suicide and winds up an invalid, confined to an iron lung (exactly how this happens was very unclear in the actual film - I rely on the accuracy of a review I read for this piece of plotline). His resentful wife and his small, shy daughter care for him, but long for a nurse to provide some relief. Enter a young man named Angelo who (we learn much later, but suspect from the moment of his introduction) was one of Klaus' few victims to survive meeting him. In a bizarre twist, the young man not only wants to perversely torture his tormentor in revenge, he also seeks to carry out similar crimes, acting out certain details in Klaus' diary exactly. Apparently Angelo's mind has been warped by his encounter with Klaus, and although he is horrified by the details, he is perversely excited by death, and seeks release by performing acts of cruelty in the presence of the man who treated him so badly so long ago. The result is a somewhat hard to follow but always absorbing shock-fest, which succeeds for its gory excesses if nothing else. It has more than its share of difficult-to-watch horror scenes, and one perfectly unforgettable scene in which Angelo murders Klaus' wife, and then ingeniously uses her corpse to exact a horrifying revenge. The contemplation of this scene alone chilled me to the bone and ruined my sleep for more than one night.
One aspect of it bothered me even more. This is NOT a gay film; I certainly don't view Klaus -who is married and has a daughter - as anything but a sadistic heterosexual child molester, who happens to favor little boys as his victims. Yet it is aggressively being marketed as a "gay film" and I, for one, resent the fact that some people seem to see it that way merely because the sadistic child molester victimizes boys. The young actor who plays Angelo is quite handsome, but his actions are far too cruel, sadistic and depraved for anyone but a full-blown masochist to find him erotically stimulating.
If you want a fully realized and graphically bloody horror film, you will enjoy this picture very much. However, if you find this shocker even slightly erotic, I suggest you check out a good therapist on the way home.