When certain camera records certain beating you know everything is going to happen afterwards: what frustrates is, that shouldn't and wouldn't happen in the real world, everything is too convenient so the story can twist and turn... the movie derivates to stupidity after 30 minutes and you just don't care anymore. And this movie is nominated to 10 or more Goyas? Better than Broken Embraces? Come on...
shareIn my opinion, this movie is amazing and deserves every prize it receives.
shareThis is a nice try to make a Hollywood style movie. It's not bad, but I agree Broken Embraces is by far better
shareWell, in my opinion, what´s overrated is Broken Embraces and Almodovar doing the same stuff over and over again. Did you find a secret which was not actually a secret in B.E. more interesting than Celda 211? Fine, but don´t assume we all think the same as you!
shareOK, reply this to me...
You're a pregnant woman close to give birth and you receive a phone call from a workmate from your husband telling you that your husband is busy and not available 'cause there's a riot going on at the prison and that he's well, but busy and that he will call you later at home. Of course, you avoid all logic and common sense or any thought for your unborn baby safety yet you throw yourself in the middle of a hysterical crowd of relatives of the prison inmates. Not from a distance, but in damn frontline of it.
On paralel events, one of the main characters, responsible and obviously in charge of the situation, instead of staying in the room where they're monitoring the situation, feels the impulse of beat the crap out of the innocents relatives - which obviously would make the ones rioting go mad and probably abuse the hostages they have - and what a chance, who does this main character that shouldn't be there, for starters, beat to death? This pregnant woman! Oh, wow, shock, awe! And not only that, but it's recorded by TV - without showing the audience that is this character who is actually actually beating the girl. I don't know you, but I don't need to be a genius to understand everything that follows: the beater is going to be later facing he girl's husband, preferrably when he's already informed that she's in the hospital or dead, and he will go mad and kill him when he knows what just happened.
You can't imagine how loud I laughed when I saw that TV - out of nowhere - sintonized exactly with the channel and showing up the beating and the camera revealing the face of the attacker.
Is it me the only one feeling this is a puerile cheat and cheap manipulation? Come on!
cifra2 is totally right. I felt the same when watching the pregnant lynching scene. Although "Celda 211" is a great movie, this sort of things make it, thought a brutal and straight to the point movie, a more average good action movie.
7.5 out of 10.
"Pregnant lynching scene"? What on earth are you talking about?
share@cifra2: i have nothing to add up, your post just sums it up.
this movie has the most ridiculous, moronic script from the time they put on Dancer in the Dark (or whatever - the movie with Bjork).
These two are, propably, the most stupid nonsense ive ever seen. And an insult
Well I agree with the OP and cifra that this movie is too convenient and overall just not very good, and I am equally surprised at all of the praise it is receiving. I think un profete was way better and way more realistic. and I didnt even think that was as fantastic as most.
But how can you hate on dancer in the dark? a truly original film and powerful story with great performances?
to each his own. I would never include these 2 films in the same breath.
The movie depends of many coincidences, true, but the movie works because characters react in beliavable ways to the situations at hand. Helena going to the prison and a camera man recording her killing is not such a big coincidence if you consider how many camera men will be at a place like that, and how impulsive some people can be while taking decisions. For me the movie pushed things too much with malamadre not wanting to kill calzones. Any other criminal would gladly do it if it meant his possible freedom.
Also, i'd rather watch this any day than an almodovar movie, but that's a matter of taste.
''Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you."
I disagree about you thinking that Malamadre hesitation and indeed retisance to kill Calzone was forced or not believable.
Malamadre was top dog not only because he is physically imposing but also because he is smarter than the rest. The rest just follow like sheep. Malamadre is a leader. He sees leadership qualities in Calzone as and although feels threatened to some extend can't help but admire him and Calzone's thinking and actions did open his mind to new possibilities. Also although at the end he knew Calzone was a con artist he also understood that he was one not out of choice and he technically did become one of them as he had earned it. So what if he lied and pretended - he never abused any of those prisoners so Malamadre harbored no ill will towards him. If he had indeed served as a guard and abused some of the prisoners before he would not have been spared by Malamadre. I think to some extent this is a humanizing movie of prisoners - you can see that there is some vestiges of humanity inside (Malamadre knew the other prisoners would try to kill him after he spared Calzone) and there is inhumanity outside the prisoner community - some of the prison guards did treat them attrociously.
Dude, you should write a review to offset those ridiculous 9-10 star ones just a little bit. I agree with everything you said, the plot twists were convenient and dumb beyond belief. And i thought this would be a realistic european prison movie...
1/10
- don't worry that's just my signature.
lol...dude....this is a movie. if you don't take artistic license might as well just only do documentaries....fine may not be 100% logical but that is why it's fiction. you are overanalyzing everything. things like this do happen in real life as much as it may be surprising to your overly logical brain.
shareThe script is the worst part of the movie, it´s well made and it´s entertaing... but that´s about it. But if you see the movie FELON with Val Kilmer you´ll find a film with logic, entertainment... and it´s fiction.
The fact that something has happened/can happen in real life doesn´t mean it would be believeble on film.
who cares about believable. movies are entertainment. again if you want believable watch documentaries. Felon was boring and predictable.
shareCharacters have to be believeble, it doesn´t matter if you are watching a sci-fi movie, a western or a horror film, if the characters make stupid decisions you stop caring about them.
When you watch a movie you kind of make a deal with the director/writer, he creates a world in the movie and tells you "in this world its posible to_________ and our only interest is________" and you accept it and buy this new realty. If you watch BACK TO THE FUTURE you know the world you are getting in to and you accept the fact that the characters won´t be in real situations, and that the bad guys are really bad all the time and the good guys are great guys, but they are true to their own nature at all times. MACHETE is all about blood, action and comedy, it´s not to be taken seriously at any time and Robert Rodriguez made sure every body got that from the very beginning.
Celda 211 tried to be a serious film based in a harsh reality, and that´s it´s greatest mistake, it relied on forced coincidences for the characters to take the action the writers wanted.
In Celda 211 I saw characters doing incoherent things in very forced and convenient situations.
Is it a better movie than the standard blockbuster? of course it is, I´d say it is even above average and the main actors did the best jobs they could. But that´s about it for me.
Well perhaps. I couldn't care less. It was more entertaining and less predictable than Felons and Machete was supposed to be a comedy/spoof but it was a lame one. Sometimes even unpretentious movies can suck and this is one of them.
Cell 211 is deeper meaning than any of these. Perhaps there was artistic license (esp. the footage of the prison guard beating the wife to death) but other than that the acting was better and the characters were deeper and the movie as a whole had a deeper message....and it was based on real events.
considering the state of humanity today, one might argue that the more stupid decisions made by the characters, the more realistic, and therefore believable, the movie
it's well made and entertaining, but other than that, what has this movie done for us?
shareWhat else was it supposed to do?
I don't love her.. She kicked me in the face!!
https://youtu.be/9foi342LXQE
He was so crooked, he could eat soup with a corkscrew.
She was worried about her husband. At the time when she went to the gates of the prison there wasn't a massive crowd and it wasn't violent. When things started to get out of hand you could see she was nervous. She started to cover her belly and push back against the crowd so she didn't get near the bars. When things really started getting bad she was trying to leave. She wasn't rioting and she didn't walk into an already rioting crowd.
movies have a million coincidences in them all the time. some movies are made based just on that premise alone. no one wants to watch everyday life.
http://www.youtube.com/user/npetrie76
while a Big Bad coincidentally beating up a Hero's wife IS a bit contrived, i do believe her showing up at a rioting prison is a very human reaction. she feels alone, unprotected, scared, etc. of course she runs to where she knows her husband is.
but in any case, all of that OP reasoning goes right out of the window when you factor in excellent acting, directing and story. when you have those, the suspension of disbelief is a much easier pill to swallow.
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This is your life. It is ending one minute at a time.
she does it because she is worried, and wants to see what's going on. To me, that's perfectly logical.
I think this movie is great, the script has a lot of twists and turns, the characters are believable, there's a lot of different plots going on, a lot of character development and the end is not a stereotype happy end. I think this movie deserves every praise it got.
I will not debate the movie with you, for it is a matter of taste. But I must point out one thing, reality is sometimes much more illogical than fiction, although, in this case is not even illogical to me.
I have lived though a war, and I know that people tend to put them self in a lot of danger when in fear for their loved ones. Going to the prison while pregnant is not even dangerous compared to the stories I could tell you.
And as for the main guy going to beat the protestors, well obviously you have never been in a riot. Seeing the riot from the "wrong" side and having a cop for a brother tells you much about the people in charge of the riot police and I must tell you those are the ones that beat you the hardest. It will sound "to much" when I say that it doesn't matter to them are you a woman, child or an old man, but it is the case. Even after seeing it with my own eyes, I don't talk about it, because I know if someone told me that story I would not believe it either.
And for the events being to stretched, I will tell you a true story: It is wartime, during a temporary peace treaty. A group of soldiers is crossing the street, for no apparent reason one soldier stops on the road. The other cross and turn to him, one says - come on you gonna get hit by a grenade. He smiles and replies -Yeah, wright, like is gonna hit me. And just upon completion of the sentence a mortar round falls and strikes him directly. Only one round, not one before or after.
If you see that in a movie I bet you would say - Come on, I saw this coming a mile away...
I agree what Elena did was stupid but she was 7 months pregnant and wasn't about to give birth.
The prison warden was known for having a temper and for being violent so I expected him to go outside and beat people up.
Haven't been home in a year & a half. I'm about 90% sure I left the front door openshare
Cifra 2, you make some interesting points about the plot, and when described as in the way you did, I can appreciate that they sound ridiculous. Personally, I really liked this film. Sure, it's not perfect, and has some leaps, but I think the issues you raised can be resolved within the film.
Firstly, Elena and the riot: You sort of addressed one of the reasons for her going there when you posted, in that she's heavily pregnant. Hence hormonal, hence perhaps not in the right position to make logical decisions. Add to that the fact that, although Armando may have seemed 'impressive' during that phone call, he was also lying and laying it on a little strong. Him bringing up what Juan had told him about her is pretty suspcious coming from a stranger, overly familiar and intimate. It's clear she was concerned by the fact he was being TOO sincere. So now she thinks the people at the prison are lying, and is pretty much convinced that Juan's in trouble.
So again, like I said before, she's hormonal and wracked with concern with nobody around to talk her out of doing something reckless, so she goes to the prison. Keep in mind that when she first goes there, it's just a bunch of people who, like her, are demanding answers. But it escalates around her, more people, becoming more aggressive. Then the ambulance shows up. Now, when watching I was hoping she'd stay where she was, everyone else has run off so she'd be alone and it would be clear that she was pregant and vulnerable, the guards could have made sure she was kept safe or escorted away. But there's a genuine possibility that Juan is the one being taken away, so of course she goes to find out. What happens next is about her being unable to escape a more confrontational, more violent situation.
Which leads as to Utrilla. Firstly, he is always portrayed as a confrontational and aggressive person, and quite unaplogetic for it. The prisoners hate him for this very reason, and he seems blithely aware of the fact that he's like that. When Armando says he'll report him for abusing the sick inmate, he even makes a bitter point about the fact he has to be that way. So his handling of the riot outside is hardly out of character. Secondly, as I understand it, it's his job. He's in charge of those men waving batons, so naturally he'll have to lead them. He seems like the sort of person who would enjoy doing so from the front, and who would hate sitting in an office instead.
The only real contrivance there is that Utrilla happens to be the one who hits Elena, and I admit that is a contrivance, but you see the same kind of 'coincidence' in thousands of films. Hell, most noir films and crime mysteries are based around these occuring. The face reveal is part of that, one moment of notably stupid decison-making that is part of the plot. Again, this is very, very common. Some of the best regarded films made rely on people making such mistakes.
I didn't feel it was puerile or manipulative at all, personally. Because you could easily have been moral and philosophical about the situation and said that Utrilla made a huge mistake and was scared by the ramifications, and that the situation around him influenced his thinking. He has just as much right to cite this as Juan did pre-murder while posing as a prisoner. I never felt this was an attempt to justify Juan killing or hurting Utrilla, it was more a chance to see what Juan would do when really pushed the way he claimed to have been during his false convicted backstory.
As for the TV thing...like another poster mentioned, there were probably a load of cameras recording footage at the time, so it's not THAT huge a stretch. A bit of a leap, yes, but not that big. To give you an example, IMDb's top rated film (currently) is the Shawshank Redmeption, coincedentally another prison based film. That relies on Andy throwing his gun away the night of his wife's murder, him never alerting suspicion while tunelling his escape route, and Red never forgetting the location of his message or the place in Mexico to go to. These stretches are no greater than this, and yet I doubt anyone would cite them to bring down the film.
But...opinion. I really really liked Cell 211, and you didn't. I just felt there should be some balance to your criticisms.
If those were my last words, I can do better.
after all, it's not like people ever get caught up in emotion and behave illogically
shareI am Spanish, I love Almodóvar - now, Broken embraces is one of the biggest piles of stinking manure I've seen in a long time. Now, while I don't think this was a masterwork, it deserves much more credit than Almodóvar's (probably) worst and laziest effort... ever.
shareI think you're all missing the point here. It is NOT a typical Hollywood movie.
The main thing is how some of the characters change from to likable to unlikable and vice versa.
You see the prisoner guards are violent lying sons of bitches and Malamadre is not the unscrupulous he seems to be. He held his word and defended Juan Oliver, instead of killing him - which is what the some of the prisoners and the policemen wanted him to be to save them the trouble. And many more analogies like that.
The only dumb thing is that pregnant woman walking around all these crazy rioting people and standing right in front of the fence, where she could be crushed at any time.
Apart from this, in all the other scenes the characters were acting brilliantly and believable, quickly adapting to the circumstances.
It's not like Hollywood movies don't have plot holes. Or any good movies for that matter. There's tons of movies with one improbable event happening after another and this barely had few.
If there is a god, I'm 95% positive he looks like a banana.
that shouldn't and wouldn't happen in the real world, everything is too convenient so the story can twist and turn
I haven't watch Broken Embraces yet but that fits in most of Almodovar's films anyway.
This is an excellent movie. Better than Broken Embraces? Way better!
share