Day 6 of Toronto After Dark 2011 started on an emotionally and physically exhausting note. Don’t get me wrong, The Divide was an incredible film, it’s just so brutal and depressing that when we left the theatre, I was actually tired.
From the second the film starts until that last image, there is nothing happy about it. During a nuclear attack, a group of people race into the basement of their apartment building and lock themselves in. Very quickly the group is forced under the leadership of Mickey (Michael Biehn). Nobody is very trusting of anyone else and it isn’t long before power struggles, paranoia, and madness start to set in.
Be prepared for some of the most uncomfortable viewing ever.
Don’t go in expecting an explanation for what is going on. This is a straight up look at what happens when a very random group of people find themselves stuck together. We found ourselves discussing the ‘what if’ scenarios over and over again, but in the end the only thing that mattered was the group and how they each reacted to the situation. Anyone familiar with Xavier Gens Frontier(s) might know what to expect. While that film was also written by him, The Divide features Karl Mueller and Eron Sheean on writing duties. There’s still the same brutal sense of despair, but the characters seem more memorable here. Usually that’s because of how despicable they are.
The strange beauty of the movie is quickly overshadowed by its brutality.
The only character that manages to stay on the side of good, although good is a questionable state in the film, is Eva (Lauren German). Everyone else seems to be leaning into bad territory with Mickey (Michael Biehn), Josh (Milo Ventimiglia), and Bobby (Michael Eklund) winding up being the worst of the bunch. I’m not sure they’ve created a word to describe just how despicable they actually are. I had a chance to very briefly speak with Michael Eklund after the screening and asked him how it felt to have the audience so openly against his character. His response was obvious, that if felt good to get the reactions because he knew that he had done his job. I’d say he did his job and then some. As far as villains go, Josh and Bobby take the top of the list. What’s even more frightening is there’s nothing supernatural about them.
Early on the group almost works well together, but it doesn't last very long.
There are moments in the film where characters make choices that don’t seem to make much sense. Depending on how you look at it, it can add to the atmosphere or take away from it. There is a logical reason for some of the decisions made, which we reached with some discussion, but others just have to be accepted as an effect of being in that situation. Honestly, who do we know that could give us the kind of insight needed to understand what’s going on in someone’s head at that time?
This certainly isn’t an ‘I’m going to throw a flick on for this sunny afternoon’ kind of movie. I almost went home after the movie because it drained everything out of me. That hasn’t happened to me very often, but when it has it’s always been too far. The Divide pushed me to the limits of what I could handle without ever going beyond that. Apparently the film is getting an unrated release in January with an extra 15 minutes added. I’d love to check out what was added but fear it may take away from what was a very tightly paced flick. The movie doesn’t need those 15 minutes at all but it will be interesting to see where the movie takes me now.
In the shadows – Will
Being a fan of both Michael Biehn and the post-apocalyptic genre, this looks like a film worth seeing. The special effects from the trailer are superb, I hope there’s more of that in the full length feature. The idea of being trapped and dying with a group of strangers seems like an interesting concept to explore so there’s that. Looking forward to seeing it.
I’m not really sure how much FX is really going on here. Most of the time is spent in the basement with everyone going a little wacky. It was one of my favorites of the festival though.