Heavens Above (2021)

• Year: 2021
• Released: 17 Nov 2021
• Country: Serbia, Germany, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Adwords: 5 wins & 24 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11034276/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/heavens_above
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Serbian
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
• Runtime: 120 min
• Writer: Srdjan Dragojevic, Marcel Aymé
• Director: Srdjan Dragojevic
• Cast: Goran Navojec, Ksenija Marinkovic, Bojan Navojec
• Keywords:

	6.1/10
	70% – Critics
	70% – Audience

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Heavens Above Movie Reviews

Disappointing

This film raises few important questions.

1. Which drugs was Dragojevic using when making it? It obviously gave him some rather creative ideas but sadly not the capacity to develop them into anything comprehensive, meaningful or even entertaining.

2. How was this movie financed? If any of it is done with tax payers’ money, we would like a refund. If anything, this movie has highlighted that just because a renowned name is directing a film, even though it unites the whole Balkans, it can still be a complete waste.

Finally I would recommend to the artist to seek therapy for some traumas he obviously suffered during his formative years and to stop taking it out on the spectators in the form of unnecessary violence.

God’s Mercy Or The Devil’s Temptations?

“Heavens Above”

Stojan (Goran Navojec) is as dull and simple as he’s kindhearted. When a freak accident changing a light bulb puts a glowing halo above his head, he quickly becomes the new attraction around town. His strong-willed wife Nada (Ksenia Marinkovic) isn’t at all amused about the unwanted attention amongst their neighbors. After several tries, nothing can remove the shining annoyance and turn her husband back to his former unremarkable self. Stojan, the unwilling saint, begins to like his new lifestyle and quickly turns to sinister crimes.

The protagonist Stojan can be seen as kind of a bad ‘Jesus’ figure as he takes on the sins of the world by rigorously committing them all. Stojan starts out as a genuinely good man. Almost a Saint. He gets rewarded with a halo. But is the halo God’s mercy or just the Devil’s cynical temptation? There’s no direct answer to that question. He deeply suffers when his wife makes him perform a series of sins, from smaller ones to the biggest, mortal sins. She believes she’s doing the right thing, she refuses to accept this as a gift from God. There are several layers of reasons for these actions. Stojan’s wife Nada is, in a way, a metaphor of today’s media; capable of turning any good man into a sinner. This is particularly true in transitional societies as ex-Yugoslavia, where the media became an instrument of out-of-control capitalism. The Catholic religion has 159 female saints out of 1486, a good illustration of male domination. The Eastern Orthodox religion has almost 300 female saints. St. Petka Is one of the most celebrated ones, especially in the Balkans. Besides the classic ones like giving eyesight to the blind, her miracles include one that superhero movie fans would find interesting; she could make herself invisible.

The second story of “Heavens Above” features a mentally challenged hero who worships St. Petka. He’s sentenced to death and turns into a baby. However, the authorities still see him as a murderer and refuse to back off from the punishment. Some might find this story cynical. Does religion work better with the weak-minded? The point here can be that only a pure soul can see and reach God. Neoliberal capitalism simply cannot accept that art can just be the Artist’s needing to say something about the world around them. That the primary goal is not to make money. The artist in “Heavens Above” sees his paintings that feed people as a curse. He wants his art to uplift people; not to fill their bellies. Unfortunately, we all are, one way or another, forced to think about that nutritious aspect. In the third chapter, after no sins managed to remove his halo, the hero turns into something that can perhaps be described as a demonic force. He becomes the president of a small East-European country. One has to be a sinner to get by in modern society. The film’s metaphors widely mix religious and political agendas.

“Heavens Above” is a dark comedy told through three stories of one family and spanning over three decades (1993, 2001, 2026). The film explores the impact of miracles on modern society. Numerous characters reappear, intertwine, and affect each other’s destinies in increasingly bizarre circumstances. The film delivers a wild and grotesque perspective on post-socialist eastern Europe that succeeds in showing the dark sides of progressive thinking patterns. The film revolves around a lot of religious issues and metaphors. A lot is an understatement. Maybe even a little too much for our own good. But, the film not expect the audience to understand everything. If you grow up in ‘Atheist’ society, in Socialism and whose sister is an Orthodox nun, they’re all necessary. What’s the true nature of God? Is it the one from the ‘Old Testament’ that punishes and asks for sacrifice or the God of love and mercy? Are we able to differ miracles as signs of God’s mercy or the Devil’s temptations? The ‘Golden Calf’ is also a really important metaphor in “Heavens Above”. Is Christianity in today’s world just praying to idols, money, glory, celebrities, and our hungry, selfish Egos?

While “Heavens Above” starts out as rather comical, things take a dark and dramatic turn in later chapters. As Life itself! It starts as a comedy, but the tragedy is inevitable. The film’s duty is to manipulate the audience’s emotions in a positive sense. This approach can be a two-edged sword. The audience is more drastically divided. But it’s more a art-house films for the common working man who deserves more than simplified Hollywood or Netflix products. Sometimes the cinema’s mission is to disturb the viewers. First entertain them, make them laugh, and gradually lead them into a completely different genre, making them feel uncomfortable for the laughs earlier. There are a lot of paintings and art installations scattered throughout. “Heavens Above”. Each painting is a result of thorough discussions during which the film tries to envision the art through the perspective of the character, who’s struggling with a severe mental disorder.

Once upon a time we had Surrealism. Today, we’ve superheroes. Miracles became an everyday thing, we see them all the time on the screen. But God’s miracles are still all around us. Only it seems that we are no longer able to recognize them. There’s one miracle in the film that unquestionably belongs only to God, and that’s our will to sacrifice ourselves for someone else. It’s, maybe, the biggest miracle of them all.

Written by Gregory Mann.

Not only the worst sneak preview i ever went to, more like the worst movie I ever saw

This film is a hideous piece of work that does not deserve the title film. It may be that the oh-so-clever script writers and directors said they were telling a great story about the new development of religion in an early post-atheist society, but that is probably the overconfidence that you need to get European funding. This film cannot be beaten in terms of cheapness and assumes that it will be celebrated by today’s ranks of stupid established film critics with the absurd succession of provocations and cobbled-in disgusts. So metaphors are supposed to be present here in abundance? Yes, if you see a slap in the face as a clever metaphor for a facial injury, you can look at it that way. So this film is supposed to be cinematic art? Yes, if performance art expresses itself on the street, for example, when the “artist” kills a passer-by, then this film is the cineastic equivalent. Just stupid and disgusting and repulsive, with no added value or cinematic streak. Of course, the makers can now sit back and bask in their arrogance, while they are happy that the viewer does not understand their film. Should they only. That doesn’t save their film either. The movie isn’t about anything other than being a big gross nastiness and then selling that as art. Nobody needs that. I’d rather watch a year in an endless loop Transformer Part 57 than this junk. If this director should get European funding again, one thing is certain: The arrogance of filmmakers in Europe can no longer be surpassed and European film is in its last breath. This film does not deserve the name of this art direction. Definitely 0 out of 10 stars, if not -10, or something like that. Unfortunately, you can only give 1 star in the worst case. Oh dear oh dear oh dear …