Dante's Inferno 020910

Dante, a knight, returns from the crusades gripped by fear because of a sense of foreboding that overtakes him in a forest. He rushes home to find his servants and father slaughtered and his betrothed, Beatrice, dying. She asks him if he remained faithful to her. He says yes and she dies. Her spirit then departs for heaven. Halfway there, demons rise out of the ground and block her before Satan grabs her. He informs Dante that Beatrice promised Satan her soul if he returned safely but didn’t stay true to her. Dante swears he did nothing wrong. Satan laughs and drags Beatrice to hell where he plans to make her his queen and make him more powerful by making a union with a pure soul. To save her Dante must navigate the nine circles of hell and come to terms with his own sin.

This movie is very clever. It takes the story of Dante’s Inferno and transforms it from a passive allegorical poem to an engaging allegorical epic. The entire movie is the story of salvation. Dante begins the story in complete denial of his transgressions but as he traverses each level of hell he is reminded of a new sin that corresponds with those damned to that circle. It’s very violent and bloody but it works with the story and it’s nice to see a Christian story that’s exciting and violent.

The weakest point is also one of the things that makes it cool: the animation. Like the Gotham Knight of 2007 this was made by a couple of different directors so the animation changes every two or three circles, and in some extreme ways; like adding a full foot to Dante’s hair length. I think the nationality of the art changes as well because while the first set of dialogue seemed fine the last set seemed to have the lip-synching completely off. Not unexpectedly some humanism slipped into the story and while it’s expected it’s still a little disappointing all the same.

The movie achieves a B-. I enjoyed it but it’s not for everyone and while I liked it, I don’t really care if I see it again.