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"HEAVEN" (2002) (Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi) (R) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Mild Moderate Extreme Heavy Heavy Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate None Moderate None Heavy Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Extreme Moderate Mild Moderate Heavy QUICK TAKE: Drama: An Italian cop helps a terrorist escape from custody after her bombing killed innocent people rather than her intended drug dealer victim. PLOT: Philippa Paccard (CATE BLANCHETT) is an English school teacher in Italy. Fed up with the local police not heeding her calls about a local businessman, Vendice (STEFANO SANTOSPAGO), actually being a drug dealer who's responsible for her husband's death, she's decided to take matters into her own hands. Unfortunately, the bomb she planted to kill him instead takes the lives of four innocent people and she's arrested for the crime. When she decides to testify in her native English rather than Italian, young police officer Filippo (GIOVANNI RIBISI), a cop's son, offers to translate. As the likes of Major Pini (MATTIA SBRAGIA), The Inspector (GIOVANNI VETTORAZZO) and the Public Prosecutor (ALBERTO DI STASIO) believe she's the member of a terrorist group and interrogate her about who she works for, Filippo begins to fall for and empathize with Philippa. Accordingly, he then plots to free her. Once he does, the two go on the run and look for help from Filippo's Father (REMO GIRONE) and Philippa's old friend, Regina (STEFANIA ROCCA), as the police pursue the unlikely pair. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Unless they're fans of the director or someone in the cast, it doesn't seem very likely. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R For a scene of sexuality. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: CATE BLANCHETT plays an English teacher who's become so fed up with official inaction toward a local drug dealer that she takes matters into her own hands and attempts to kill him. By accident, however, she kills four other people and must then deal with the consequences of that as Filippo helps spring her from jail. She later kills another person. GIOVANNI RIBISI plays a young police officer who serves as a translator during Philippa's interrogation and then decides to free her after falling for her. STEFANO SANTOSPAGO plays a local businessman who's allegedly also a drug dealer who targets Philippa's young students as his clients. REMO GIRONE plays Filippo's retired cop father who must decide what to do about his son and his actions. MATTIA SBRAGIA plays a corrupt police official who's in cahoots with a known drug dealer and shady businessman. ALBERTO DI STASIO and GIOVANNI VETTORAZZO play other officials who interrogate Philippa about their suspicions of her being a terrorist. STEFANIA ROCCA plays Philippa's old friend who helps hide her and Filippo at her farm. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a quick summary of the content found in this R-rated drama. Profanity consists of at least 1 "f" word, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also present. A sexual encounter includes movement, sounds and nudity, while another encounter is implied and a woman is briefly seen in her underwear. Violence includes a bombing that kills four people (we don't see the actual deaths or aftermath) as well as a woman murdering a man via gunfire (we don't see the impact but do see the bloody results). Some of that material may be disturbing and/or suspenseful to viewers. In addition, various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, including a cop who helps spring the terrorist from custody. Various characters drink or smoke and one is accused of being a drug dealer. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Philippa says that her husband died of an overdose. She also accuses Vendice of being a drug dealer who peddles drugs to her young students, some of whom she says are in rehab. People have champagne or wine at a wedding celebration. Philippa and Filippo have wine while eating. BLOOD/GORE We hear that Filippo wet his own bed, but only see him washing the sheets the next morning. We see blood on the wall behind a man who's just been shot (and we see the small bullet hole in his head). DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Vendice is a businessman who allegedly sells drugs to minors (although we never see this occur). The local police officials conspire with him and thus don't charge him with anything. We also learn that they destroy evidence and then plan to have Philippa killed. Philippa attempts to kill Vendice for the above, but ends up killing four innocent people by accident instead. She later kills another person. Filippo helps spring Philippa from jail and then goes on the run with her despite being a police officer. He also helps in allowing her to kill someone. Philippa admits to being unfaithful once to her husband. Filippo's younger brother assists in the escape plan. An old friend of Philippa's helps the two hide at her farm. FRIGHTENING SCENES After seeing Philippa assembling a bomb with a timer, we follow her into an office building where she stashes it in a trashcan in Vendice's office (with a 5 minute countdown). After she leaves, we then see a maid take out that trash and then get into an elevator with a man and his two young girls (and we wait for the explosion). Philippa comments on finding a young student of hers who committed suicide. Tension builds as Philippa attempts to follow Filippo's escape plans that involve a distracted guard, a dash out of the building and hiding from an approaching cop. Filippo lures a man to the police station and into an office at night where Philippa waits with a silencer-equipped gun. Philippa must hide in a bathroom to avoid being detected by two maids. GUNS/WEAPONS Bomb/Handgun: Used to kill people. See "Violence" for details. Assault rifles/Handguns: Carried by the police and fired at some escaping suspects. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "What the f*ck are you playing at?" "I don't give a sh*t" and "What the hell /are you saying/have you done?" (all in English subtitles). Philippa creates and then delivers a bomb to an office building in an attempt to kill a man she despises. Filippo puts some diuretics into others' hot chocolate so that they'll have to leave and go to the bathroom (as a means of getting them out of the room). JUMP SCENES None. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A moderate amount of suspenseful and ominous music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 1 "f" word, 1 "s" word, 2 hells and 1 damn used as exclamations (all in English subtitles). SEX/NUDITY Philippa goes into Vendice's office and wants to see him, but the receptionist says he's busy. Philippa then says that it's an "erotica" problem (speaking in Italian) and the woman goes to speak to Vendice. We briefly see Philippa in her panties. As Philippa and Filippo hide in the back of a milk truck, its driver stops at a residence and a maid joins him in the front seat. Through the glass panel that separates the back of the truck from the front, we then see the driver and maid having sex. They start by kissing, groping and undressing each other and we then see him thrusting between her legs with related sounds from her, as well as views of his bare rear and her bare breasts. She then gets dressed and exits the truck. From a very long distance and with them completely silhouetted, we see Philippa and Filippo undress and then embrace (but no details can be seen) on a hilltop. It's implied that they have sex or fool around as they later wake up together. SMOKING Various cops smoke (one does at least 5 times), Filippo's father smokes once, Vendice has a lit cigarette in an ashtray, and some miscellaneous characters also smoke. TENSE FAMILY SCENES Philippa says that she was getting divorced when her husband died of an overdose. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Revenge. Drug dealers. Instant love. VIOLENCE A bomb explodes in an elevator, resulting in four deaths (we only see the floor's elevator doors buckle from the explosion that we hear and don't see any of the deaths or resultant gore). Philippa shoots a man in the head, killing him (we see him rush toward her and hear the shot, but don't see the actual shooting or impact - but we do see the body with blood on the wall afterwards). An old friend of Philippa's slaps her on the face. A police officer knocks down a door. Police open fire on a police helicopter that then escapes by flying upward until it disappears from sight. Reviewed September 30, 2002 / Posted October 18, 2002

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