Ni le ciel ni la terre (2015) Reviews

• Outpost in Afghanistan

  searchanddestroy-12015-10-03

  It could be a mix of DJINNS and PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK. It also could be influenced by all those horror military outpost stories that were shown several years ago, and which even continue now. Tales involving lost platoons in the middle of nowhere, in the desert or all kinds of wilderness, lost patrol who had to fight against an invisible unknown evil. This feature is very realistic and carried by a solid acting too. Characters are convincing. But no gore sequences here. And I will also emphasize on the eerie atmosphere, weird, especially the scene where the group of soldiers try to catch the evil spirit who abducted some of their men...Their fellow comrades. Jérémie Rénier plays here the chief of those men. Remember, he also played a soldier in LE GRAND HOMME, last year. Worth watching.

• Psychological analysis

  lepoutre-th2016-03-16

  The movie narrates the story of the mystery disappearance of four members of a french army platoon settled in Afghanistan. Even though the characters end up figuring out in what conditions those disappearances occur, the reasons of it remains totally unknown. The viewers are invited to make their own explanation regarding these reasons. Here's mine: The fact the reasons remain unknown is actually the reason itself. At first glance the scenario unfolds like an x-files episode, but it's actually nothing more than a psychological analysis and illustration of what the soldiers have in mind when a teammate falls: it tears apart everything that justifies their attendance to this war. This dead- end tends to bend their mind to the spiritual explanation: since nothing rational explains why a human has killed another human, then it's god's will. The movie doesn't promote any kind of religion, especially as we'll see the same behavior from both Talibans and french soldiers. It's all about highlighting their fatality feeling and inability to admit this war has no reason to be. The actors are brilliant, every details in the scenario and the picture make it look extremely real, and yet doesn't fall into a false documentary genre. We're immersed to the point we feel like we're simply living it.

• Intriguing plot, leaving us with unanswered questions about the little an armed force can do in those circumstances. Horror movie without gore yet tense from start to finish

  JvH482016-07-05

  Saw this at the Leiden film festival (LIFF www.leidenfilmfestival.nl/en/about-liff) 2015. Strong atmosphere, portraying the environment where these soldiers have to survive, full of uncertainties about the inhabitants, their habits, and their way of thinking. There is much more than merely a language barrier, and even the best interpreter is at a loss here. The best example making this point is when they interrogate a young boy, who explains several things in terms we don't really understand, but the boy certainly sees it as facts. A surprisingly consistent and logical explanation how the world works in his eyes. (possible spoiler ahead) I did not understand the final 10 minutes. Four sheep were killed, shaved and put in body bags, possibly referring to a story that was told in the beginning of the movie, when the group failed to collect all body parts of a killed soldier. A body bag was filled with some extra sand to make up the weight of a man, after which the box was sealed and sent home. We saw the captain court-martialed because of being held responsible for the death of four men, while he and we knew that these four were just missing, believed held hostage and kept in an underground cave. But, as said before, I did not understand this part of the movie and thus may have missed an important clue. (end spoiler alert) All in all, an interesting story to demonstrate how misplaced these alien forces are actually, in a strange world populated with people they don't really understand. And we have a second story line in parallel, actually a horror story without the usual gore, yet tense as we don't understand what has happened really, leaving us viewers with the same unanswered questions as the main protagonists on screen. Everyone acts believably, soldiers as well as inhabitants, and offer a strong performance throughout.

• One hour 40 minutes of my life I will never get back

  derek-eynon2017-11-03

  To be fair the movie has TREMENDOUS atmosphere, and the acting is very believable both from the French Troops cast, and the Taliban. The story, however, is incoherent in the extreme, to the point of nonsensical. A bit like (Kubrick) The Shining , or Event Horizon, the print as delivered makes no sense. Possibly bad editing, or just a bad screenplay.

• Effective and haunting.

  paulclaassen2018-06-11

  This film was so engaging it is such a pity it ended they way it did. As the logline says: vanishing one by one without explanation. Well, that's just it; the disappearances are never explained. I expected some sort of lead to the disappeared or to the phenomena at least, but nothing. The film just leaves you hanging to make up your own mind as to what (possibly) happened to the men. There are no jump scares here, but it is creepy and effective, mysterious and intriguing. The acting was also very natural, adding to the credibility. Jeremie Renier in particular was very good as the somewhat subdued Captain. It was also interesting to see how the Unknown affects the various characters. Despite the dissatisfying ending (for me, at least) it was still well worth the watch and I would probably watch it again.