Purge (2012)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Sorry, this movie sucks

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

I've read Sofi Oksanen book before seeing the film and for me that's obvious that we have here a great film based on a great book. Usually the historic event crush individual lives and destinies, but sometimes is really amassing how peoples can react so different and how unexpected individual desires mixed up with historical event can generate dramas. This film also remembered me another one, a Romanian one, "Somewhere in the East", made after Augustin Buzura's novel "Fetele tacerii", part of the subject being related.

A young woman forced into a prostitution ring in Estonia escapes and seeks refuge with an old lady whose horrific past is revealed through a series of flashbacks, and although I am not fan of a non linear style of filmmaking, it works well for this particular movie.The two main actresses are terrific and the World War Two history lesson regarding Estonia and Stalin's communist Russia is quite compelling. Both the current theme of white slavery and the past one of atrocities committed in the name of patriotism and honor are portrayed in a brutal and honest way. Purge runs a bit too long at two hours and five minutes, but even with that small criticism, I would rank it as one of my favorite foreign language films.

I'll admit that this isn't the kind of film I would have watched had I known more about it. What got me interested was a review in Empire magazine's Video Dungeon column, written by Kim 'Nightmare Movies' Newman which said that this contained a Frightfest (UK horror festival) full of exploitation all in one film. He did however go on to qualify this.Yes, there are several very uncomfortable scenes which could have been exploitative, but they were all in context over a two hour running time, and I certainly didn't expect to be almost crying by the end. The acting was superb (particularly Laura Birn in a brave role I'd imagine most actresses would kill for), and I really felt for the female characters.Maybe 'enjoyable' or 'entertaining' are not the right words to describe such a bleak film. But it will keep you gripped, and you would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by it. I voted it 7/10 at first, but I'll have to check whether you can change your rating, as it's now an 8 in my book.

Finland - The land of Santa Clause, reindeer, snow, alcohol, sauna and dark movies. Yet, another movie in this category. Most viewers of Finnish movies probably know Aki Kaurismäki's movies, one of the few Finns who ever got successful abroad. But what have we got here? A movie based on a book by Sofie Oksanen, an Estonian-Finnish writer. It is dark, it is painful, but nothing like we're used to. It's darker, it's more painful. The movie tells of rape, of murder, of prostitution, of human trafficking. It tells us the story of two tortured souls who, in the end, can finally be free.The movie is one of the best movies I have seen in a while, and surely the best non-English speaking movie that I've had the chance to watch lately. The acting is excellent, the story thankfully close to the book and the atmosphere soaks you right into the world of Aliide and Zara. Indeed, you get so captivated that sometimes it's hard to choke down your urge to scream.If you have any chance, watch the movie and make your own picture of it. Nonetheless, be warned, people with quite a weak stomach should abstain from watching this movie because of its rather disturbing pictures.Given you enjoyed this one, you might also like "Lilya 4-ever" (2002).