Gabriel is just like Wings of Desire/Faraway, So Close if Wim Wenders were a complete fucking moron. Hell, even City of Angels is better than this shit. According to the opening intertitles, “When a soul crosses to the afterlife, it journeys into … a divine source of harmony and wellbeing” or “a consuming force of evil and malevolence.” There is a “midworld” between those “two opposing realms,” where “the souls whose judgement has yet to be decided” dwell. This midworld “is commonly referred to as Purgatory.” The movie would have done well, however, to refrain from referring to it as such.
We’re also informed that “For centuries, 7 Arc Angels [sic] … and 7 Fallen [i.e., demons] … have silently fought for balance of power over these unclaimed souls.” Both Arcs and Fallen “must assume a human form” (nonetheless endowed with superhuman speed, psychic powers, and faith healing) which means they fight like humans — specifically, they engage in many a shoot-out with each other. So much for “silently.” Moreover, “Each side is restricted to sending only one warrior in every cycle.” Simple math yields a total of seven cycles, but how long each cycle is remains a matter of pure speculation (although that, as we’ll see below, makes no difference).
Now, once you admit the existence of Purgatory, it follows that the other two realms are Heaven and Hell (even if they are never mentioned by name), and this is just not how all that religious cosmology works. Purgatory is mostly a Catholic belief, according to which “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.”
In other words, the souls in Purgatory are neither “unclaimed” nor is their judgement “yet to be decided.” These souls are already saved, and eternal damnation is the least of their worries. They’re on their way up, and how they get there has nothing to do with angels and demons punching and shooting each other; indeed, the proper channels are rather humdrum: “the faithful who are still pilgrims on earth [i.e., living people] are able to help the souls in purgatory by offering prayers in suffrage for them, especially the Eucharistic sacrifice. They also help them by almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance.”
Anyway, that’s just what the Church says, and it’s not exactly riveting stuff. On the other hand, it makes a whole lot more sense that this movie’s plot. For instance, “At present, darkness rules, and has the strongest grip on the city that it has ever held.” This “city” — a substandard, digitally ‘enhanced’ urban wasteland — is dark all right, but it’s no Dark City. In fact, I have no fucking idea what it is.
All Movie talks about “An angel come to Earth.” Wikipedia describes Gabriel as an “action-horror film set in purgatory.” And IMDb says, “Gabriel the archangel fights to bring light back to purgatory … and save the souls of the city’s inhabitants,” which doesn’t help to determine whether the city and Purgatory are the same thing or not.
Never mind that, once again according to the primary authority on the subject, “The term [Purgatory] does not indicate a place, but a condition of existence” (wherein the passage of time would be irrelevant, and the very concept of time non-existent); why would Purgatory be a modern city where everybody speaks English? Do its inhabitants know that they are dead? Don’t they find it odd that the only three locations in the entire place seem to be a nightclub, a whorehouse (which may or may not be located in the same building), and a soup kitchen? Also, a soup kitchen? Why would you need to eat in Purgatory? And what would happen if you starved to death? Would you go to a fourth, yet-to-be-determined realm, or reincarnate back in Purgatory?
Conversely, if it’s an earthbound city, why would the battle between angels and devils be confined to this particular place? The Arcs complain that “The city itself is the best defense [the Fallen] have,” because it “is surrounded by darkness. The light has no way of knowing what goes on down here.” Is the city “surrounded by darkness” because of the Fallen, or do the Fallen thrive there because of the darkness? And if the latter, why don’t the Arcs move to one of these cities, gain strength through the high quality of life, and then face the Fallen?
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