Following a sudden explosion, a group of apartment-building tenants force themselves into an underground bunker created by their super, Mickey (Michael Biehn). Soon it appears they are all at the mercy of their landlord and the mysterious people dressed in hazmat suits that track them down. But as supplies dwindle and morale runs low, and the radiation from the outside seeps in, it becomes apparent to all that no one can be trusted.
Xavier Jens offers the audience an absolutely stunning, awe-inspiring film that will leave you speechless. The "end-of-the-world survivors" storyline was running on empty until The Divide came along. But it is not just the inner survivalists that will feel the power of The Divide. It is a film where every character actor shines and changes, some to the point of being a completely different person once the credits roll.
The criminally underrated Michael Beihn leads the cast as Mickey, the foul-mouthed, cigar chomping landlord who begrudgingly allows his tenants into his private bunker. You can hardly blame him for being angry at the unexpected mouths to feed. But as his backstory is revealed, you understand his world, and how vicious the world around him has been and will continue to be. His work here is the finest he has ever put to the screen.
But it is the rest of the cast that makes The Divide so stunning, rounded out by little-known method actors who walk into that bunker as everyday people and transform into animalistic creatures before their very eyes. Michael Eklund and Milo Ventamiglia make the audience shudder as the two turn from normal, healthy young men to sadistic cretins that use their power over food for bartered favors, both sexual and mental favors that cause the other occupants of the bunker to change with them.it is this kind of despicableness that makes those wishing survivalists want to change their minds.
I have been thinking as to what the title could refer to. I think it is the divide of the human psyche under times of unprecedented stress, or perhaps the divide of those survivors in the bunker desperately trying to cling to their humanity. Whatever the divide truly is, I hope never to encounter it outside of a film like this.
This is an important film. The Divide will make you question not only the ethics of the assembled characters but the ethics of yourself and your family and friends if such circumstances were to occur. Buy this film, because if you can stomach it, you will need to see it again the second it is over.
Xavier Jens offers the audience an absolutely stunning, awe-inspiring film that will leave you speechless. The "end-of-the-world survivors" storyline was running on empty until The Divide came along. But it is not just the inner survivalists that will feel the power of The Divide. It is a film where every character actor shines and changes, some to the point of being a completely different person once the credits roll.
The criminally underrated Michael Beihn leads the cast as Mickey, the foul-mouthed, cigar chomping landlord who begrudgingly allows his tenants into his private bunker. You can hardly blame him for being angry at the unexpected mouths to feed. But as his backstory is revealed, you understand his world, and how vicious the world around him has been and will continue to be. His work here is the finest he has ever put to the screen.
But it is the rest of the cast that makes The Divide so stunning, rounded out by little-known method actors who walk into that bunker as everyday people and transform into animalistic creatures before their very eyes. Michael Eklund and Milo Ventamiglia make the audience shudder as the two turn from normal, healthy young men to sadistic cretins that use their power over food for bartered favors, both sexual and mental favors that cause the other occupants of the bunker to change with them.it is this kind of despicableness that makes those wishing survivalists want to change their minds.
I have been thinking as to what the title could refer to. I think it is the divide of the human psyche under times of unprecedented stress, or perhaps the divide of those survivors in the bunker desperately trying to cling to their humanity. Whatever the divide truly is, I hope never to encounter it outside of a film like this.
This is an important film. The Divide will make you question not only the ethics of the assembled characters but the ethics of yourself and your family and friends if such circumstances were to occur. Buy this film, because if you can stomach it, you will need to see it again the second it is over.