Complete credited cast: | |||
Günter Meisner | ... | Klaus (as Gunter Meisner) | |
David Sust | ... | Angelo | |
Marisa Paredes | ... | Griselda | |
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Gisèle Echevarría | ... | Rena (as Gisela Echevarria) |
Imma Colomer | ... | Jornalera (as Inma Colomer) | |
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Josuè Guasch | ... | Niño Cantor (as Josue Guasch) |
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David Cuspinera | ... | Niño barracon |
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Ricardo Carcelero | ... | Angelo Niño |
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Alberto Manzano | ... | Niño Gitano |
In Spain, the former Nazi doctor Klaus tries to commit suicide jumping off the roof of his manor. However, he survives with the entire body paralyzed and dependable of an iron lung with glass sides. His wife Griselda decides to hire a nurse since she does not bear the situation. Klaus asks Griselda to hire Angelo, a mysterious teenager that appears in their house. Angelo befriends Klaus' daughter Rena and sooner it is shown that Klaus was a pedophile that loved to feel the fear of death in young boys before abusing and killing them. Further, Angelo is a disturbed and totally insane victim of his experiments that intends to follow the insanities described in Klaus' diary and incorporate his personality. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Well, if you're looking for a film more apt than "Apt Pupil," feel free to knock yourself out with "In a Glass Cage." A Nazi doctor confined to an Iron Lung is tormented by a former victim who poses as a housekeeper (but is even more mentally unbalanced than the good doctor himself) in order to learn the tricks of torture he used during the war. Despite the good performances, the psychological bond between these two is rather half-baked and unbelievable (partly because it's so weakly written), even more so when the kid starts performing his own murders in the doctor's witness. The script is much more content to wallow in its own outre subject matter than approach it with a fresh, absorbing insight--basically, we hear the same rants on molestation and murder over and over again, but the film isn't curious about exploring these themes on anything other than a very basic level. The mood of the film (and that is one thing it DOES have, in abundance) is often broken by elements that seem lifted from a slasher film (the wife's hanging is a prime example), and it simply goes on too long, playing the same repetitious notes over and over again. If you want to see a truly disturbing film that is a masterpiece of both depravity and intelligence, try Pasolini's "Salo"; "In a Glass Cage" only has the depravity.
5.5/10