Mi mefakhed mehaze'ev hara (Big Bad Wolves)

According to Quentin Tarantino this is the best film of the year 2013. Although I would not readily agree, I can see why he likes it. Part of it looks almost like an homage to the Mr. Blonde/cop/ear scene in Reservoir Dogs. I don't think it actually is.

This is one hell of a film, though.

The story starts right in without much of a set up. Four men 'question' a suspect to multiple murders. The whole things gets caught on tape (because everyone has a cell phone) and ends up on the internet. The suspect hast to be released in the aftermath. Not that it does him any good.

The man is a bible studies teacher and suspected of kidnapping, drugging, raping, beheading and killing little girls. With the video and all, the school does not have much choice but to suspend him. And then the father of one of the girls and the police officer that orchestrated the beat down both decide to take justice into their own hands. After one initially knocks the other out to get his hands on the culprit they then join forces to try and extract the information where all the missing heads of the murdered girls are.

This is when it gets really ugly.

The film, for all its brutality (few and far between), is beautifully shot and well acted. What is interesting is that for the longest time, it is not clear whether or not the teacher actually did kill the girls. Don't worry, all will be revealed in the end, but by then it may already be too late.

8/10

Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS

How do I...? Where do I...?

Ilsa is a doctor in a concentration camp. She set it upon herself to prove to the male dominated Nazi regime that women have a much higher tolerance for pain than men and - as a consequence - should be fighting at the front for the Third Reich.

To prove this she needs documentation gathered through extensive torture. She also likes to sleep her way through the men in the camp and if they prove to not meet her standards (and mind you, she expects that they don't), she has them dismembered and the unsatisfactory body part is sent to a colleague who studies such things. In sweeps an American inmate who can satisfy her and so earns his place and stays in one piece for the time being.

In the end, all trace of the camp's existence will be wiped out.

Lots of torture scenes and lots of sex. Trash of the highest order.

3/10

Oh, and for the record: "Dewachtung" is not a word. I'm guessing this should have been "Bewachung"...?

Zero Dark Thirty

This is a 157 min movie that feels like a 157 min movie. Does that make any sense? What I'm trying to say is that it does not drag on, but it doesn't fly by either. Every scene is stretched to the point where it is about to get exhausting, but then doesn't quite.

It starts off with an extended torture scene. The main players are established as being tough, but only because they need to be. They are really only doing it for the intelligence and are totally awesome true patriots. Never mind that the new name they get out of the poor guy is one that they eventually get from multiple others that seemed to be giving up details much easier.

From this moment until the final showdown at Bin Laden's hide-out we follow CIA agent Maya in her years of struggle to convince her superiors that her hunches are right and, ultimately, she knows how to find the big bad wolf. This part is pure drama, no action - other than the occasional explosion that will have you jump out of your seat.

The storming of the hide-out feels like it takes place in real time. Sure, it is exciting, but - much like the torture scene - is so detailed one could argue that it is too long.

Overall pretty good. Jessica Chastain is much more deserving of the Oscar than Jennifer Lawrence in the same category.

6/10