When liza recommended this movie for us to watch, I was a bit uneasy because he is disabled and disabled characters put me in my feels, so I was ready for a roller coaster. The movie starts out with a crash which introduces us to the lead character-angel and his partner-Ricardo who are paramedics. I thought I would feel bad for angel because he is disabled but the movies does well by showing how crappy a person angel is.
The team responds to the crash and before the scene ends, we see angel grabbing a pair of sunglasses. The next few scenes give us a glimpse into the character of angel, we see him having sex with his girlfriend-vana and later having a fight with her when she sees her period because they are trying to have a baby. Another scene shows him snooping through her phone looking at messages vana is getting and having a fight about it, he goes to a fertility clinic and he finds out his sperm count is low but he doesn’t tell her. Another scene shows that he is storing the sun glasses in a cupboard and there are other items in the cupboard presumably from people he has attended to. Finally, we get a scene where the paramedic team responds to an old woman and he steals her jewelry, and sells to a shady character, but keeps an engagement ring because the price is not right.
The movie starts out properly when the team has an accident caused by his partner being distracted which puts him in a wheel chair. The next few scenes show his dependence on his girlfriend in the little things like passing his medication. Future scenes show his downward spiral into obsession which is heightened by the insecurity of the wheel chair. We have a scene he installs a spyware in her phone to monitor her messages, track her and listen to conversations on his laptop. He also he hides his pain medication and causes a fight which leads to him listening to her conversation about her wanting to break up.
We see how manipulative he can be by making her favorite food after listening to the conversation of her wanting to leave him. The next scene shows them having sex after the dinner and angel says he can’t feel anything which sent a shiver through my spine. Vana eventually finds the laptop he uses to spy on her and leaves. Months later we see that she is now dating Ricardo and they are expecting a baby, this scene felt like a betrayal on her part which drove angel overboard.
He tracks vana down and talks her into getting somethings from her apartment and he injects her with morphine. He keeps her in his apartment and uses an epidural to prevent her from walking which makes her use a wheel chair too. We get a glimpse into the mind of Ricardo further when he kills his neighbor and the dog for barking and also proposes to vana after everything he has put her through.
Vana escapes eventually and months later we see angel in a hospital being visited by vana who is more visibly pregnant. She come to take him home which we assume is to torture but I see it as angel getting what he wants because he eventually spends time with her.
( Written by my friend, the Baker)