Hierro (2009) Reviews

• Changeling?

  dbdumonteil2010-12-08

  The disappearance of a child is a subject which was often filmed ;in the last decade ,"flightplan" and " changeling" come to mind .And ,as Michelangelo Antonioni showed in "L'Avventura" ,an island is the ideal place to locate such a story,although his was a desert one.People living on an island are often (if you go by what the screenwriters write,of course,so islanders ,please ,don't feel offended! ) places where the inhabitants are bizarre,hostile and do not like strangers . "Hierro" is not like the two other American movies :it is a story of paranoia ,in which reality and nightmare collide.When the heroine is in the mortuary ,the audience sides with her and anyway who could accept such a thing:the death of your only child ?Even the police seem suspect ,even the young one who wants to lend a helping hand.This is a slow-moving story,a wandering across splendid but gloomy landscapes, a wandering in the recesses of her mind too for this is primarily a psychological drama . A bit confused, but a laudable attempt.

• Underrated by the Hollywood followers

  jordang732011-12-21

  A very underrated movie. This movie is good, the acting is terrific as well as the photography. The script is a descent one with a twist that works perfectly well, I don't see the so called evident predictability at all. And most of the complaints here are based also in that same old mantra: it's a slow paced movie. It seems that the Hollywood followers need one more century to realize the difference between art and fast food, not to mention the "lack of gore" and all the horror paraphernalia that they want to see all the time. Very good movie, intriguing, touching, visually beautiful. I hope the director doesn't pay too much attention to the unfair reviews here this time and move forward with contentment. Very well done.

• Elena Anaya will break your heart

  Agnelin2011-08-18

  "Hierro" is definitely worth a watch. It is by no means perfect -it is slow-paced, too slow-paced at times; it has random scenes and seemingly random characters that could have been further exploited; the nightmarish, surreal atmosphere that is hinted at in the first scenes never quite comes to fruition-, but it is a captivating experience for a viewer. Ultimately, what makes this movie a little sea pearl is the depth and the realism of the emotions that it conveys, mostly thanks to a stellar and very inspired Elena Anaya, who deserves every praise as the actress that carries the weight of this drama on her shoulders, and pulls it off masterfully. In "Hierro", Elena Anaya stars as María, a young mother to 5-year-old Diego. On a ferry journey to the small Canary island of Hierro, Diego vanishes and no trace of him can be found. The first part of the movie is probably the best -we see the young mother whose life is centered around her only son, and then we witness her despair at her loss, and her fruitless attempts at recovering some kind of normalcy. These sequences in particular, with María bordering madness, are especially well-done. One day, María gets a call from the police in Hierro, asking her to return in order to check the identity of a body that could be that of Diego's. Back in Hierro, María will continue her quest for the lost son, in the middle of a desolate -but extremely beautiful- natural setting, and colorful but hostile locals... While the story doesn't flow as naturally as desired, I never found it hard to follow, nor boring -I was mesmerized by the powerful emotional journey of this mother and for the mysteries that she finds along her way. The ending is very fitting and well-done. The final answer to the young mother's plight and whether it can be predicted or not doesn't matter as much as how she gets there and all the difficulties that she has to surmount, which made this a perdurable story in my mind. My rating is 8/10.

• Psychological Thriller

  kosmasp2009-10-20

  There are quite a few good movies from Spain, covering the horror thriller. This one starts really good and has awesome cinematography and really good actors. Still in the end, it doesn't completely deliver on the premise. One of the main problems being, that it too foreseeable, but still tries to build upon a twist, that you can see coming a long way, before it actually gets revealed in the movie. The hints are there of course and it is pretty nicely done. Maybe if this is your very first thriller, you might be a bit more excited. But all in all, you can watch this, just be patient with the movie and enjoy it's setting and the "view".

• Where's Wally?

  Ali_John_Catterall2011-04-03

  Certain phrases work upon film critics in the same way vuvuzelas will in the ears of unsuspecting Chelsea Pensioners. Among the most radioactive ("Directed by George Lucas"; "A Platinum Dunes Production") is the seemingly innocuous: "From the Producers Of…" Trust me, 99 per cent of the time this tagline denotes the exact opposite of a seal of quality. It gives me little pleasure, then, to report that Hierro hails "from the producers of Pan's Labyrinth and The Orphanage" – both standard-bearers for the new wave of Spanish-language chillers. The presence of subtitles isn't always indicative of a Horribilis Superior. Like The Orphanage, this is another addition to the increasingly popular 'Where's Wally' sub-genre: Maria (Elena Anaya) is travelling with young son Diego to the eponymous real-life island, Europe's southernmost point, when he mysteriously vanishes on board the ferry. Six grief-stricken months later she's recalled to the island, where a boy's body has washed up. Nightmares, visions and fleeting glimpses of Diego soon follow. Are the islanders harbouring a secret? Is Maria going crazy? Or what? Sadly, this simplistic psychological thriller is desperately underwhelming stuff – no mean feat in a movie containing full-frontal nudity and flaming morgue corpses (gosh, these 12A films are a bit racy!) – with a mandatory twist and some half-hearted jump-scares. Meanwhile, the ridiculously over-the-top musical cues and strident celestial choruses made this reviewer want to leap from his seat and tear out the cinema speakers with his bare hands. On the upside, there's some very pretty, elemental cinematography (that strange, strange island, with its blackened beaches and volcanic turrets, is the movie's real star). Perhaps an almost inevitable Hollywood remake might help flesh out the plot. Or not. Probably not. In any case, I won't be holding out for a Hierro.