Survival of the Fittest

Raven-1969

score 7/10

It starts as a normal day for employees of an American company in Colombia. Suddenly blast walls are lowered in the small office tower, exits are closed and a malevolent voice over the public address system orders people to kill or be killed. A few have to die before it is believed that this voice means business. Soon it is hand to hand combat and survival of the fittest among maintenance, management, IT nerds and the rest of the workers. Weapons are in plentiful supply. So are theories as to how and why this is happening, what to do in response to the commands and whether people should band together or fight for themselves.

This intense, violent, funny and unpredictable film is fueled by capable actors and an intriguing plot. It says a lot about human nature. People divide into two camps; the manipulators and those with empathy for others. Yet both types tend to die when the lights go out and the blast walls go down. The unexpected twists to the story are wonderful and plentiful. Characters that I assumed would live, instead die gruesome deaths. What detracted from the film is that there was little depth to the dialogue and the film was not shot where it was set (Colombia). World premiere seen at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

Raven-1969 5 October 2016

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3556462/