HALF OF HEAVEN Movie Review

La Mitad del Cielo

Rosa (Angela Molina) is a young peasant woman who has inherited strange but not-always-wonderful telepathic powers from her grandmother (Margarita Lozano). Grandma uses her occult abilities to warn Rosa away from unsuitable suitors, and if she doesn't listen, the men meet singularly unpleasant fates. Half of Heaven is a pleasant, handsomely photographed fable about heredity, desire, and the twin family curses of poverty and success. The director, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragon, doesn't quite have the flair for surrealism that the material requires, but the spirited performances, particularly from Molina (That Obscure Object of Desire) help considerably.

NEXT STOP… The Garden of Delights, Tristana, Like Water for Chocolate

1986 95m/C SP Angela Molina, Margarita Lozano; D:Manuel Gutierrez Aragon. VHS PBS, FCT, AUD