Sheitan (2006)

- written February 2007

Summary: Joseph is the caretaker of a house and the visitors have shown up, after having been thrown out of a bar due to getting into a nice brawl. So eve takes her 4 friends to her parent’s house to just relax and have some fun. But Joseph doesn’t seem all mentally stable and in fact, many of the locals do not either. Considering our 5 main characters all seem to be a bit criminal in the first place, this get together looks like it’s gonna have all sorta of problems.           Overall: I read a lot of reviews where basically the author said that they didn’t “get” this film: good film but weird and they didn’t understand. So let me simplify it for them. We have Joseph and his “wife” Marie (Mary) and a girl named Eve. Joseph likes snakes and Eve at one point tries to give apples to one of the guys. How’s that sound? I’ll toss in a few more references. A goat at one point early on bites Bart (who basically is the bad guy of the bunch) and the moment he does so, Bart is now everyone’s sole object to hurt and kill from then on. In many religions, the goat is a symbol of the Devil. And of course, you could take our 3 visitors (all from different cultures) as perhaps the “3 Wise Men.” Maybe sort of a satanic version of the birth of Jesus since this will coincide with the birth of Joseph’s child. And what were Jesus’ parents’ names again? Yep! Well I could go on and on, especially given the chat they have at the dinner table, while eating this “goat.”           No question the film has a lot of religious connections and frankly, it’s a weird film that gets more demented as the film goes on. Everyone is sorta messing, sorta not with each other. Lots of incest, homosexuality and all sorts of debauchery permeate this film. And it only picks up steam as the film progresses. But even for all that, the performance of the year is Vincent Cassel as Joseph. That maniacal grin he has is gonna give me nightmares. Oh my god was he a psycho. And just further goes to show his brilliance as an actor. Great stuff here folks. Go find the film, enjoy it. And don’t give up on the ending. You may get caught up into the whole sneaky ending the film tries to throw at ya. But just wait for it. The ending is to die for!           Comparison: Jesus Christ Superstar meets Irreversible

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