Battle with the plot

Don't try to apply logic to Battle in Heaven, the second feature of Mexican director Carlos Reygadas, it would be a waste of time. He is, without doubt, a filmmaker of great talent. What that talent is telling us in this highly visual tour de force is another matter.

A general's middle-aged chauffeur kidnaps a baby, presumably for money. The kidnapping is botched and the baby dies. The driver picks up the general's daughter, who is a part-time prostitute, has sex with her and later knifes her before taking part in a pilgrim's procession to the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe. His guilt finally destroys him before the police can intervene.

There seems no adequate reason why the gross and unprepossessing chauffeur (Marcos Hernandez) should kidnap the child since he has a good job within a society where there is great poverty and the child's family are friends who are probably poorer than he is.

There is no obvious reason why the general's daughter (Anapola Mushkadiz) is a whore. But Reygadas's long takes and idiosyncratic editing are highly watchable.

Battle In Heaven (Batalla En El Cielo)
Cert: cert18