Battle In Heaven is a film that, as stated on it's theatrical poster, 'contains strong real sex'. Any audience expecting to be aroused may very well be disappointed: the fleshy carnality on display here is about as unsexy as it may also be familiar. How often do we go to a theater and see sex that we actually know about, the corpulent physicality making love, difficult emotions placed on the nightstand. The graphic sex in "The Brown Bunny" and "9 Songs" while being perhaps more clearly pornographic in content have only a fraction of Reygadas' explicitness in content. "Battle in Heaven" has it's characters exposed, fully exposed, to one another.
Reygadas is a filmmaker that employs what may be perceived as controversial imagery and subject matter to challenge a viewer's capacity to actually engage with discussions on sex, faith, and morality. He doesn’t shy away from showing Marcos and his obese wife going at it just as much as he has no problem allowing the camera to meditate on strong images like Marcos’ limp penis and Ana’s vagina. This is not an easy film to watch, but I would suggest that it can be rewarding.
Carlos Reygadas' mesmerizing films deserve to be seen by as wide an audience as possible, though this one will not be for everyone.
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