Astral City: A Spiritual Journey

The most expensive Brazilian film ever made, Astral City takes viewers on a New Age-y journey, based on a book by Chico Xavier, a self-styled medium who claimed the story was related to him by a deceased doctor named Andre Luiz. After dying, Luiz (Renato Prieto) awakens in a dark wasteland where he and others stumble about in confusion and pain. Rescued by medics, Luiz is carried to a city called Our Home, where he's tended to in a gigantic hospital ward. Here, Luiz eventually discovers the realities of human existence: namely, that men and women essentially commit suicide by giving themselves over to vice, and must be purified after death by learning patience and generosity (after which their future isn't specified). Luiz comes to terms with his own failings in life—depicted in flashback—and is joyfully reunited with his dead mother, eventually even joining the ranks of attendants in the city, who are warned of an imminent enormous influx of patients as a result of a terrible war that's broken out on earth (World War II, as it turns out). A curious, non-denominational parable that plays out slowly and pretentiously against antiseptic modernist backgrounds that resemble the interior of some empty mall, Astral City may move some viewers hungry for spiritual pabulum, but most will probably find it a long, tedious slog. Optional. (F. Swietek)[Blu-ray Review—Nov. 18, 2014—Strand, 102 min., in Portuguese w/English subtitles, not rated, $27.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2010's Astral City features a fine transfer and extras including a “making-of” featurette (22 min.) and trailers. Bottom line: this strange Brazilian film looks sharp on Blu-ray.]