Heaven

That manic maestro of the metaphysical, Tom Tykwer, director of films like Run Lola Run and the superior The Princess and the Warrior was the choice to direct this script by the great, Krysztof Kieslowski. Tykwer was the right choice. After retiring from filmmaking in 1996, Kieslowski sat down to begin writing a new trilogy (Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory) of which this was to be the first, unfortunately for all of us, he died before completing the other two scripts. This one, instead, got picked up by Miramax and was produced by Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella -- I'm not sure if that was a smart move or not, but the film turned out well. Kieslowski's films often dealt with the ideas of fate, chance, coincidence, and the ways in which we are all united without even knowing it -- these also are the ideas that Tykwer has attempted to explore with his films, though with a slightly different stylist approach. With this film, though, he is unusually restrained. This film is hypnotic and in no way stylistically overbearing.

Cate Blanchett, proving yet again that she's one of the most versatile actresses of our day, and Giovanni Ribisi play the leads. She's a teacher living in Italy whose husband and some of her students have died because the government has done nothing about drug control. Her pleas have gone on deaf ears, and now she is going to take matters into her own hands. One of the opening scenes is following her as she plants a small bomb in the government officials office that is responsible for the lack of action. Unfortunately for her, the janitor accidently takes the bomb into an elevator with a father and his two young daughters -- the four innocents die, the guilty lives. Watch Blanchett's reaction when she find out that she murdered innocent people, it's an amazing moment. Ribisi is her translator to the police while she is in custody. He falls in love with her. Then they escape.

The imagery and music combine to hypnotic effect. And by the end, you can almost see the hand of God, because the film itself seems to be such a spiritual exercise. I'm not really sure what else to say about it. It's not a masterpiece, and I can't help but wonder what Kieslowski himself would have done with the material, but just the same, there's something special about this film.