Seven Days (2010)

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I'm going to review "7 Days" today, which is a Canadian/French horror revenge drama thriller ( WOW! That's a mouthful!) However, I want to get this thought out before we get to the review, and I'm going to explain why I want to share this thought before I review the movie. As a childless, married man for several years, I close my eyes, and I ponder how any sick soul on the planet would have the heart to do bodily harm to a child, and yet we see these sickening acts daily. We hear about it on the news, we read about it in tabloids, and we see the headlines on the internet. It's every parents worse nightmare...pedophiles. Even though I have no children, one may think that this would not be of any concern to me. It is a strong concern for me! The reason is simple: I know several people who have children, and I wouldn't wish any harm done to them. Even the parents I do not know, I wouldn't want any harm done to their kids. However, it happens daily, it happens every minute, every second. As if that's not disturbing enough, "7 Days" will explore how one man steps over the line of being sick enough to molest a child, but to murder an eight year old girl as well. That's not a man, that's a monster. I always believed molestation was the devastation. How could you take a child's life as well? The movie I am going to review will explore one fathers vengeance upon the attacker. And I'll let you know straight up, you are not going to be waiting long to see what he's got in store for him. The thought I want to share with you, is the reaction that some people will have watching this film. ( And the reaction seems to be the same for many of these films of the same genre.) You may hear one say: "Well, daddy is just as bad as him. No matter what someone does to you, you don't go around hurting other people." Well, daddy isn't going around hurting other kids, so I tend to disagree with you. What is very shocking, is a huge percentage of people agree that a father taking matters in his own hands is just wrong, that he should just turn this over to the police, and let them handle it. Obviously, a few of us disagree with the procedure that these slime bags get for their crimes committed, feeling as if they are handled all too lightly. I question how, living in the United States, how rape is handled through long drawn out court cases, and yet the penalty for rape in the military is simple...the punishment is death! This movie is not in English, it's in french. I do not speak french, I do not understand french, and I really do not understand a word that was spoken in this movie. Why did I watch it? Simple: I wanted to see a pedophile/rapist/killer get the sh*t knocked outta him! And "7 Days" delivered the goods. Given the fact that the father doesn't speak one single word to the killer anyway, it justified me giving it a decent review. What you can expect, is some very emotional/ intense atmosphere, I cannot stress this enough. And the violence in this movie is incredibly graphic. If your too sensitive of a viewer, back away from this, please. There are many scenes of disturbing nature. Oh, and I think I forgot to tell you, daddy has an ace up his sleeve...HE'S A DOCTOR! So don't be surprised when he does a fantastic surgical procedure on the pervert, rigging his stomach up so that if he has to poop, it's straight out his belly! Unfortunately, I was more saddened then relieved to see this creep get what he deserves. There's plenty of scene's when the father says absolutely nothing, his hardened face softens at times, and you can see the pain in his eyes of losing his child. Then, his eyes become cold, and he unleashes his vengeance on thee, with a whip, with a sledgehammer, with a drug that will paralyze his entire body. This film is well acted, and everything seems near perfect. ( Due to its nature, I am restricting this to a 7 out of 10 rating. It's obviously nothing I can ever bare to watch again. Once is enough for me.) A quick message to any sap who thinks about harming a child, think again, this could be you one day!

Based on a novel by Patrick Senecal, "Les 7 jours du talion" tells the story of surgeon Bruno Hamel, whose daughter is brutally raped and murdered. Hamel decides to do himself justice by kidnapping the murderer and plans on torturing him for seven days, after which he will execute him.Does this story sound familiar? It probably does. As a matter of fact, plenty of movies have exploited almost identical story lines. However, I can guarantee that the approach that this film takes is very refreshing and will manage to deliver plenty of food for thought and discomfort to its audience."Les 7 jours du talion" doesn't waste a lot of time in showing the perfect happy family clichéd scenes. It jumps to the tragedy quite quickly, and takes just enough time to show the impact of the loss on Hamel's couple, and the emptiness that they're left with on a daily basis. What happens next, as you may imagine, is a descent into one's personal hell, as he kidnaps the monster who killed his daughter, locks himself up with him in a secluded cabin in the middle of the woods, and performs horrible acts of torture on him.Keep in mind that this is a gruesome film. Some scenes are quite graphic, while others leave a lot to the imagination of the viewer, but are just as painful to watch. What's really interesting, however, is the psychological evolution of the protagonist.One of the things that truly differentiates "Les 7 jours du talion" from the bunch of similar existing films is the absence of music, even when the credits start rolling. I saw this at a movie theatre, and rarely did I ever see a crowd so awkwardly uncomfortable. As a viewer, with the musical element taken out of the equation, you are left with the rawness of the emotions on display. The music isn't there to dictate how you should feel during the torture scenes, or when you see Bruno Hamel hold the mutilated dead body of his own daughter. It may not sound like much of a big deal, but trust me, it breaks a barrier between the viewer and the notion that he's watching a film. It is hard to explain, but the experience somehow feels more authentic in a way, by letting the actions on display speak for themselves. It was quite surreal to see people at the movie theatre laughing in nervousness when the murderer is crying and begging Hamel not to torture him. Trust me, it's not because they thought it was funny. It's because they were anxious of what was going to happen next, because the music did not provide a single hint.The paradox behind the concept of revenge is the main theme of this film. And as it works its way up to the brilliant ending, it constantly evolves within the protagonist's mind. While not overly original in the questions that it raises, what's really impressive here is the delivery : the photography is cold, gritty, and not too overly desaturated; Daniel Grou's directing is stellar; Claude Legault, as always, is absolutely fantastic, and so is the rest of the cast.The ending left me with a big smile on my face. It's simply brilliant...that very last bit of dialogue is worth watching the entire film for.

I read the book before watching the movie. Les sept jours du Talion by Pat. Senecal was way better then the movie. Major element were not put in the movie. The deer thing was originally a dog always crying making Bruno Hamel go insane and yelling at the forest. The movie also forgot to show how crazy and mad bruno hamel turned. we didn't saw him driving drunk and almost crashing in cars. The story seemed incomplete since it lacked on explanation of why he turned like he was in the end. They really rushed the part were he organized the kidnapping of Lemaire, which in the book was methodical and complex that we saw he had turned cold and silent. For the actor part, Marc legault did a really good work, we really felt his anger and his pain. Other then that, not many actor seemed to emerge from the movie. The wife was also left apart of the story, making the movie miss another important thing from the book. In the end, it wasn't as good as 5150 rue des ormes, another book/movie from senecal, but it was worth watching it.

This movie clearly defines the revenge thriller genre. As a superb standout from Canada, it delivers a myriad of emotions from a plethora of angles. It takes you on a journey inside your own mind as you compare the emotions of those affected in the movie, and compare them to emotions you think you might feel if something as horrific as the initial crime should (heaven forbid) happen in your everyday normal life.The plot is simple, the direction is stark and unwavering, and the story is beautifully acted by all the players. What a gem! One more thing. Of all the lame movies you read the reviews on, and the reviewer laments about never getting his/her '2 hours back' - you won't read any such nonsense about this flick. I highly recommend it. 10/10