The Maus (2017)

Nice effects though.

The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I do not recommend this film if you are fan of movies like Annabelle or the conjuring, No jump scares here. If you are ready to watch something different, something war and history related with some PTSD, then you should give it a try.Selma and Alex end up ruining their ride in the middle of the woods, a place full of mines from the past war. Selma, from the beginning, seems frightened and worried, like a mouse. They later meet two Serbians, neither looks trustworthy and Selma immediately knows it (¿or is only in her head?) She later gets raped by them but all the sudden it seems the rape scene was in her mind and part of memories from the war. Regardless, all the dirt from the rape scene maintains in her face, making the viewer question if it indeed happen. While the story goes on we are more convinced that Selma is suffering of PTSD. She later sees Alex getting killed by a shotgun. Each time the events go back and it seems Alex was never killed, but the Serbians are aware and weary of Selma´s attitude, growing more hostile towards the pair.Alex always tries to maintain a neutral position, telling Selma constantly that he is her guardian angel but in reality he is not understanding what she is going through. She knows there is something wrong going on, but Alex does not listen and later on Selma is proved to be right, or at least in her own imagination. Due to the events happening, we are sure Selma is suffering greatly, but we do not know what is really going on with the events happening. What is real and what is made up by her? Selma finally changes the mouse and cat play and kills both Serbians, a human like alien makes it´s appearance, which I consider is herself, her dark self, since the being only appears at the end when she decides to kill the Serbians. Later on, Alex, who is still alive discovers his girlfriends deeds and is unsure if he should stay with her or not. His fear gets worse when he find Selma bashing one of the Serbs head in with a rock, thing he could not do himself.I believe the ending is Selma´s reality. She is the blurry woman responsible for the bomb at the end (the one carrying the weapon), a terrorist. My guess and interpretation is that the beginning of the movie is something completely made up by her, living again her childhood traumas during the war. I am unsure if at the end of the film they already knew each other or not. It seems not, probably his lack of fear of her and his compassionate approach makes her think of him as her "guardian angel". And that leaves all the scenes in the forest with him being her boyfriend as her internal battle between good and evil. Between Alex (guardian angel) her other self (the alien like demon in the forest) and her fear of her past and the war (The Serbians).The ending is a little confusing, there are several theories out there that can explain the final scene. For me, it made sense that all the forest scenes is in her mind is her internal battle. She is fighting against her past, fighting between whats good and wrong and against her fear and trauma of living such terrible things in her youth.

This movie suffers from constant close ups that fail to create a sense of intensity, retracts its own story elements multiple times, repeats itself constantly, and uses absolute darkness to a hopelessly annoying degree. Any attempt it makes at representing PTSD is downplayed by awful filming and plot confusion. The acting itself is good, though the characters those actors are portraying are all irrational and have no good motivations for why they do half the things they do.Expect to be confused even if you follow the plot closely, and to hate multiple characters constantly.

The Maus: Confused and confusing film about a couple. a Bosnian woman and her German boyfriend, whose car breaks down on a road on the midst of a Bosnian forest. They appear to wander into a minefield but the woman's dog who isn't actually with them is blown up. They encounter two Serbian men who attack them but this appears (along with the dog incident) to be the woman hallucinating about past events when her family were murdered in the 1990s. Then they really seem to be attacked by two Serbs.The woman also has an amulet which has the power to summon up a spirit to help her. Or is she just imagining all of this? Is she suffering from PTSD? I don't know and I don't think the screenwriter or the director did either. Some very disturbing scenes but an absence of shocks. 5/10. On Netflix.

What did I just watch?It was a warning to never travel in foreign lands unless you are in a large tour group...no, that wasn't it.It was about extraterrestrials who have come to earth to observe humans...no, that wasn't it.It was about the persecution of members of the Muslim faith...no, that wasn't it. It was a warning for Western Europeans to never date Eastern Europeans...no, that wasn't it.It was to remind people that a stroll in the forest can be a real blast...no, that wasn't it.It was to show how Serbians and Bosnians will never live together peacefully...no, that wasn't it.It was to prove that reincarnation is a real possibility...no, that wasn't it.What did I just watch? I have NO freakin' idea.