Released February 14th, 2012
This time on Direct to DVD Dissection, we look at a Spanish movie from Venezuela, called La Hora Cera or “The Zero Hour”.
La Hora Cero Poster
The Story:
In the middle of a doctor’s strike in Venezuela, a hitman takes a private hospital hostage in order to help a mysterious pregnant woman he knows. When the situation hits the news, he is branded a hero of the poor and sick. With the police and Governor looking to take him and his gang out, and the town threatening to riot, choices will have to be made.
The Cast:
Zapata 666/Ruben Zapata as La Parca, a hitman who leads his group to hold a hospital so he can save LadyDi. A rapper from Venezuela, this is his first movie. He is known for the song “Bala Perdida, which features the actual funeral of drug lords.
Erich Wildpret as Dr Cova, the doctor taken by the gang from a local medical center to care after LadyDi. Considered to be one of the best actors in Venezuela, Erich studied at the London Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performed in numerous theater plays and shows.
Amanda Key as LadyDi, the pregnant woman Parca rushes to the hospital. Also her first movie, she started acting at an early age.
Laureano Olivarez as El Buitre, Parca’s partner in crime, who takes charge in the hostage situation. A mainstay of the Venezuela film industry, he has been acting since he was 14 years of age.
The Dissection:
The Zero Hour deals with a group of gangbangers, lead by La Parca (The Reaper), who take a hospital hostage in order to get treatment for a pregnant woman Parca knows. With his second, El Buitre (The Vulture) and his gang of thugs holding the hospital, it becomes an issue that drags the army, police, and even the Governor himself into the situation. As the hostage situation gets more serious, the country divides into two sides over thinking Parca is a hero or a crook. Parcia, with his own reasoning for getting involved with this woman, has to do the opposite of what he did as a hitman: try to save a life.
The movie is grim and dark in setting up the good and bad. There really are no good guys here, with the exception of LadyDi and Parca to a lesser extent. However, it works well into the movie itself, where the story has a number of people with issues; they either pay for those transgressions or have the moment of reflection to go, “What have I done?” Each side has something sympathetic about them as well as something to hate them for; whether its past issues and crimes or what they do when the camera rolls. This leads to a lot of deconstruction of what everyone expects and eventually to a bigger problem down toward the climax.
Zapata 666 as La Parca
Now, when I say that everyone has something that people complain about, there really is no one without some kind of crime. From the gang itself for the crime, to the female reporter trying to get the story and thinking only of herself, to the governor with his own secret and ties to Parca, to the doctors over the issue of the strike. There’s even a Miss Universe model who gets hatred over getting a boob job. It makes sense in context.
Acting wise, this movie has a few new faces. Parca is played by a first time actor, but he does well in his first time on camera. He shows range and depth to his character so you can follow his story and becomes the closest to a protagonist this movie has. There also is the actress of LadyDi, Amanda Key, who doesn’t do much until the final moments of the movie. Though, to be fair, this has to do with her character being unconscious most of the time. Overall the acting is done well in the scenes during the movie.
A hitman doing something he isn't known to do: Saving a life.
The effects in this movie are simple and mixed. Some of the CG effects are small, used to show bullet holes or blood, but have some difference to the more practical effects used for the same things. Nothing takes away from the movie, though.
The other story of the movie, the issue with the strike, it isn’t pushed into the faces of the audience much, especially in the second half of the film. The focus has a lot of the injustice of the poor being sick and dying while the rich use the private hospital system. That, though, is put to the side over the actual kidnapping and the situation that occurs with LadyDi. So anyone worried about that plot being hit over your head repeatedly can rest easy.
Moving to the DVD itself and the extras, we have some trailers at the start for the movies below:
- Sins of My Father, dealing with the son of famed drug lord Pablo Escobar
- Sleep Dealer, a “not-too-distant future” movie dealing with the lives of Mexicans who seek other alternates when entrance to America is forbidden.
- Anything Goes, a street fighting movie set in Ecuador.
- The War Boys, a group of teen con artists get into trouble over the border in Mexico.
Special features aren’t much, just a music video and trailer for the movie. On the spec side, this movie has both English and Spanish audio, both 2.0 and 5.1, but the movie only feature English subtitles.
The Verdict:
It’s an interesting movie that I recommend seeing. It tells an interesting story and some interesting moments until the end.
Check it out.