Heli

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Heli

2013

1h 45m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

58%

Tomatometer

45 Reviews

61%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

A factory worker struggles to protect his family from a corrupt police force when his young sister inadvertently lands them in the middle of a drug war.

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Critics Consensus

There's no denying the seriousness of Heli's story or the raw power of its more uncomfortable moments, but they're used in service of a grimly alienating film that many viewers may ultimately find unrewarding.

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Joe McGovern

Entertainment Weekly

Dec 3, 2014

The film's nihilism serves as a metaphor for the merciless death pit of Mexico's drug war, but not much else.

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David Lewis

San Francisco Chronicle

Aug 7, 2014

3/4

Director Amat Escalante and his gifted cinematographer Lorenzo Hagerman have crafted a powerful film that feels and looks a lot like Steven Soderbergh's Oscar-winning Traffic.

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Randy Cordova

Arizona Republic

Jul 10, 2014

2.5/5

Although it obviously is made with some skill, it also is unrelentingly dire.

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Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Jun 12, 2024

5/10

Its crude approach to drug violence strikes me as inane, gratuitous, uselessly sensationalist. [Full review in Spanish]

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C.J. Prince

Way Too Indie

Jun 19, 2019

5.3/10

It's too hopeless and overdone to generate anything more than a shrug.

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Alexa Dalby

Dog and Wolf

Jun 6, 2019

4/5

All the parts are played by non-professional actors, except for Ramon Alvarez, and Escalante gets powerful performances from them.

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Sep 30, 2021

Heli is barely behind the no-crossing line of the kind of morbid porn-misery stories taht go far from the acceptable, but is exactly that (the raw power of its images and asronashing direction) what makes it so unforgettable and hard to ignore.

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Oct 3, 2019

Piece of crap . Extremely graphic. Animal cruelty . Pure example why Mexican cinema is still not worth watching.

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Oct 16, 2016

rather brutal and a difficult watch at times but still essential viewing

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Jul 7, 2016

Shows how hopeless life in Mexico currently is for the majority of Mexicans.

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Oct 18, 2015

"Heli" is an uncompromising, nihilistic film, angry behind dead eyes and graphically shocking.

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May 24, 2015

Retrato de las historias de "aquellos que vemos en el periódico". Lenta y profunda historia cimentada en un sombrío transcurrir, bien efectuado al contar uno de los tantos por qués de la suciedad en la que muchas famlias viven frente al factor narco que asecha a los más vulnerables (aquellos olvidados por la Ley y coaccionados por ella).

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Amat Escalante

Director

Armando Espitia

Heli

Andrea Vergara

Estela

Linda González

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Synopsis

A factory worker struggles to protect his family from a corrupt police force when his young sister inadvertently lands them in the middle of a drug war.

Director: Amat Escalante
Producer: Jaime Romandia, Amat Escalante, Carlos Reygadas, Titus Kreyenberg
Screenwriter: Amat Escalante, Gabriel Reyes
Production Co: Conaculta, Lemming Film, unafilm, Ticoman, Le Pacte, IKE Asistencia, Mantarraya Producciones, Foprocine, Tres Tunas
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Spanish
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 1, 2016
Runtime: 1h 45m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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