Angels, devils duke it out in Spanish comedy

Everyone has different visions of the afterlife: what God looks
like, if Hell is the flaming pit of despair many believe it to be,
or whether such things even exist. Filmmakers have imagined
individualized heavens in “What Dreams May Come” and
used rock singer Alanis Morissette to play God in
“Dogma.” But in Agustin Diaz Yanes’ film
“Bendito Infierno,” nowhere is the concept of Heaven
versus Hell more strange and intriguing.

Yanes’ Heaven is 1940s Paris, with celestial scenes always
filmed in black and white. It is here that nightclub singer and
angel Lola (Victoria Abril) is approached by the manager of Heaven,
Marina D’Angelo, who sends Lola as an agent of Heaven to save
the soul of a boxer named Manny. The balance between good and evil
has shifted toward the latter, and Heaven hopes that by winning
Manny’s soul, the heated battle between Heaven and Hell will
end and equilibrium will be restored.

The chief executive of Hell, Jack Davenport, is played by the
raging hot Gael Garcia Bernal in a role with inadequate screen time
but replete with devilish charm. When Davenport catches wind of
heaven’s scheme, he immediately sends his own Hell’s
angels to Earth (including a fiery brunette in the form of Penelope
Cruz as the sultry Carmen) to battle for Manny’s soul.

Yanes chooses a New York subway station as the setting for Hell,
where everyone speaks English. Spanish is the language of the
Earth-dwelling mortals, and chic French is the langue du jour in
Heaven. While this could bring a chuckle or two, Yanes may be
making a political commentary of sorts.

The film’s only fault lies with a short section of the
plot. During the second half of the film, Lola and Carmen get shot
in a supermarket and are shocked to discover they are bleeding,
realizing they are somehow mortal again. Their transition from
immortal angels to mortals and back again is poorly explained and
is slightly confusing. Otherwise, the film has a coherent plot and
well-timed jokes during the more comedic scenes.

Despite the film’s 2001 release under the title “Sin
noticias de Dios” in Spain, “Bendito Infierno”
looks to be a hit in the United States when it opens today, thanks
to Yanes’ interesting cinematic choices. The film boasts
stellar performances from Cruz, Abril and Bernal, who starred in
the recent “Motorcycle Diaries.”

Although people may not agree on the existence of angels or the
appearance of the Pearly Gates, one thing is certain:
“Bendito Infierno” will present believers and
non-believers alike with a fresh vision of the afterlife, with
several laughs along the way.

– Julianne Fylstra