Heaven’s Burning (Heaven’s Burning, 1997) is a little-known Australian film that attracted me with the appearance of the main character – a young Russell Crowe wears whiskers and looks like a greaser. The film directed by Craig Lahiff at the Toronto festival was shown after the “Secrets of Los Angeles”, the rental was limited only to domestic cinemas, so the criminal-romantic story of escaping from the pursuit of an unsuccessful Australian and a strange Japanese woman went unnoticed.
Colin O’Brien, the hero of Russell Crowe, can only fix and drive cars (as in the movie Drive) and goes with the flow. The car service failed, so he decided to earn extra money by participating in a dubious scam. In the bank robbery, everything went wrong according to plan, the life of one robber was cut short by a ridiculous and even ridiculous death. The unsuccessful bandits took the hostage and then decided to deal with her. But when Colin saw that lawlessness was happening before his eyes, he could not stand aside and pulled the trigger himself, shooting one of the bad brothers.
Ah, thanks for the photo...
A road movie begins, a guy and a girl are traveling across Australia, fleeing revenge. The gangster clan of Afghan origin has technical means to calculate the movement of our hero. And they go in pursuit, while romance takes place between a sudden couple. In general, this is another option to “knock on the heavenly door”, but with the Asian flavor of Yuki Kido, familiar to us from Jarmusch’s Mystery Train, and the gorgeous sideburns of Russell Crowe. Japanese Midori decorates the palette of the film, which, by the way, is quite cruel, but shot easily and with humor. Sometimes the action comes close to scenes of violence, but still they are not painted. And that’s a good thing.
The Jap found out about his wife’s betrayal and decided to go to the end, samurai traditions bequeath to wash away the shame with blood. Accidentally failed his senpai, playing with the pecal, the killer involuntarily. He shaved his head and jumped on the bike, it suits him better, really. If he was such an evil macho man, being her husband, she would have been with him and would not have jumped on other men. And after all, Papa Cam correctly said about karma, disasters await this nation, and his dark prediction came true in the coming decade (Fukushima explosion and tsunami). But his own karma also caught up with him, because the harsh cuckold decided to kill everyone who gets in his way.
The donkey was angry today, he found out that he was an ass
This couple is also going to the beach to see the sea. For Colin, this is a return to childhood, where his parents and sister were, and life has not yet gone downhill. For Midori, this is the trip to feel as alive as possible. She seems to be truly in love for the first time and is over the moon with happiness, everything is bright and crazy. And Colin is a good guy, he just took a wrong turn, choosing a short and dangerous fate. So the heavens opened up and their lives burned up. Heavenly fire.
"I can breathe!"
Heaven’s Burning is one of the dynamic films of the 90s about losers who live a real life under the motto live fast die young. But he also stands out for his poetry – these fortune-telling, a party where the main characters are dressed as the bride and groom, but hardly say a few words to each other, Australian landscapes with kangaroos and philosophical arguments of Colin’s father. With some absurdity of what is happening, the film resembles the works of Kusturica, probably the ethnic similarity of Afghans with Albanians, desert landscapes and a wheelchair accordionist (cameo by Colin Hay from Men At Work) playing the Flight of the Valkyries.
Watch the movie Heaven’s Burning/Heaven’s Burning (1997) online
