
Heli, a factory worker in rural Mexico must try and protect his young family when his 12 year old sister inadvertently involves them in the brutal drug world when she agrees to look after some cocaine found by her older boyfriend. When the drug cartel want their drugs back they go after the boyfriend and Heli's young family.... (Full plot summary below)
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Heli, a factory worker in rural Mexico must try and protect his young family when his 12 year old sister inadvertently involves them in the brutal drug world when she agrees to look after some cocaine found by her older boyfriend. When the drug cartel want their drugs back they go after the boyfriend and Heli's young family.
Leave your thoughts about Heli.
| San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisDirector 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. |
| GuardianCatherine ShoardThe film functions as clammy thriller as well as poetic agitprop. |
| Time OutKeith UhlichThe main talking point of this empty-headed thriller from Mexican director Amat Escalante is a sure-to-be-notorious instance of penis incineration — a dubious distinction. |
| The AtlanticJon FroschOne of those skillfully crafted, unflinching works that nevertheless leaves you questioning what the point of all the queasiness might be. |
| Montreal GazetteT'Cha DunlevyLife is not only tough in Amat Escalante's bracing film Héli. It is brutal and senseless. And yet the Mexican filmmaker conveys a certain message of resilience through his troubling story of a regular family whose world is upended by a savage drug cartel. |
| Minneapolis Star TribuneErik McClanahanThe imagery is equal parts ugly and beautiful as the tale descends into a nightmare most could never conceive. |
| Total FilmAndrew LowryThere's much to admire in Escalante's verve and daring. |
| Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekI'm not sorry I saw Heli, but the squeamish should know what they're in for. |
| Movie MezzanineAndy Crump...maybe Heli contains few layers beyond its central political outcry, but then, maybe it doesn't need to. |
| Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernThe film’s nihilism serves as a metaphor for the merciless death pit of Mexico’s drug war, but not much else. |