Review of Revanche

A quietly compelling, suspenseful film about the ability of the human being to redeem themselves through understanding, Revanche would probably be frustrating to those accustomed to the Multiplex thriller full of quick cuts, revved-up music and one explosion after another. Like the author Dickens, director Spielman contrasts the gritty, downbeat lowlife in the big city with the honest toil and rich rewards of the country, and although the film starts to be about a simple bank heist, it becomes something else entirely; chopping wood becomes punctuation to the internal road the main character takes to self-understanding--while realizing that this is quite a heap of philosophy to lay on what becomes a cat-and-mouse thriller, there are plenty of surprises in store for the patient viewer who wants a film of some maturity and depth