Dante's Inferno is a 2007 comedy film performed with hand-drawn paper puppets on a theater stage. The film was adapted from the book "Dante's Inferno" by Sandow Birk and Marcus Sanders (Chronicle Books, 2004), a modern update of the canticle Inferno from Dante Alighieri's epic poem Divine Comedy. The film chronicles Dante's (voiced by Dermot Mulroney) journeys through the underworld, guided by Virgil (voiced by James Cromwell). The head puppeteer was Paul Zaloom and the puppets were designed by Elyse Pignolet and drawn by Sandow Birk. The film premiered January 20, 2007 at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival. The film has also been shown at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Sarasota Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Silver Lake Film Festival, the Boston Underground Film Festival, and on the Ovation TV cable network.
Contents
Plot
The film opens with a theater stage and Dante Alighieri waking up in a stupor. With little memory of where he is, he finds Virgil, an old man in a bathrobe, who identifies himself; shows Dante an image of Beatrice, his dead lover; and guides him to the gates of hell.
After passing the street sign which reads "Abandon all hope on entry here," Virgil shows Dante those in Limbo (for they never chose a side in life) forced to forever protest at a harbor. They meet Charon and, after an earthquake and crossing the Acheron, enter the first circle— for those whose vice was not being Christians— who have no punishment but separation from God. Virgil introduces Dante to the poets and describes the liberation of famous Old Testament figures from hell.
Continuing, they witness King Minos judging sinners. In the second circle, they see the lustful being forced to eternally have sex. After hearing the story of Francesca and Paulo, Dante passes out. He wakes up in the third circle, a construction zone full of trash; after Virgil shoots Cerberus, they see the gluttonous who are forced to eternally eat. In the fourth circle lies the greedy, with obscured identities, forced to push a car in a circle.
Reaching the river Styx, Dante and Virgil cross it via a taxi boat; in the river fight the souls of the wrathful. Reaching the City of Dis, a suburban "planned community," Virgil convinces the occupants to let him and Dante in. The two visit the sixth circle where heretics burn in Jacuzzis. Dante, recognizing his old landlord, Farinata, explains the souls ability to vaguely see past and future. After encountering a terrible stench, Virgil advises them to take a break. While resting, he explains the next three circles of violence, fraud, and treachery as mugshots of various historical figures in those circles cycle on the screen.
After going to the Minotaur's Greek food stand, Dante and Virgil meet Chiron and other centaurs in police uniforms who they pay to get a ride by the Phlegethon, a flaming river with those who committed violence against others. Going farther, the two enter a park full of those who committed suicide whose souls are trapped in trees. Continuing, they enter The White Swallow, where Dante finds Mr. Latini, his teacher, who shows him those in this ring are forced to continuously dance.
Meeting a giant hole, Dante and Virgil descend on a Fox News helicopter. After getting kicked out of the plane by Virgil, Dante sees the seducers (pimps) and the two get a ride with demon-pimp Celia. At Capitol Hill, home of the flatterers, they hear musical number which condemns lobbyists. Farther down, Dante enters the church of the simonist, those who abused their religious positions. Next, the diviners are stuck with their heads twisted around. Celia drops of Dante and Virgil at an airport where barrators are punished. After Spiro Agnew is beat by the TSA for taking bribes, Virgil and Dante, chased, run and jump off of a jet bridge where they meet the hypocrites in mascot costumes. Farther, Dante is almost deceived by the identity thieves who are only able to assume the identities of others but leaves shortly. In a puppet show, Ulysses tells his story in which he abandoned his family and convinced his crew to "civilize" the rest of the world; the weight of the loot eventually causing his crew to drown. Outside, a Muslim taxi-driver berates Dante and Virgil; they are punished by being split in two. In a skyscraper are the falsifiers; going down an elevator, they witness the ironic torturing of money launderers, asset-inflaters, and insider-traders.
Taking the subway to Cocytus, a frozen city, they ice-skate. Meeting Dick Cheney, he tells how a demon possesses his body on Earth. At hell's center, Satan, a human in red body paint, is eating Judas, Brutus, and Heinrich Himmler. Nearly being killed, Dante escapes through Satan's behind and leaves the underworld.
Voice cast
Tony Abatemacro - Lying Defendant, Farinata
Scott Adsit - Judge Minos, Paolo, Hirohito, Spiro Agnew
Matt Besser - Metallica Defendant, L. Ron Hubbard, Curtis LeMay,
Bill Chott - Ciaccio 'El Gordo', Calvacanti, Joseph Stalin, Ulysses' Crew
Mike Coleman - Charon, Phlegyas, Senator, Dick Cheney
James Cromwell - Virgil
Andrew Daly - Lucan, "Right On" Glutton, Jim Jones, Airport Screener, Ulysses' Naysayer
John Fleck - Brunetto Latini
Sean Forrester - Horace, Filippo Argenti, White Pimp, Beating Victim, Airport Security, Insider Trader #2
Tony Hale - Ovid, Real Estate Broker, Pope Nicholas III
Tom Hallick - George Sanders, Deep Voiced Lobbyist
Brandon Johnson - Irate Driver, Mounted Policeman, Pimp #1, Pimp #3, Airport Security
Laura Krafft - George Sand, Airport P.A., Subway P.A.
Dermot Mulroney - Dante
Martha Plimpton - Celia, Lobbyist Singer, Lizzie Borden
Kit Pongetti - W.M.D. Defendant, Francesca, Marilyn Monroe, Elena Ceaușescu
Characters
The two main characters of Dante's Inferno are Dante Alighieri and Virgil. Mentioned before their entering to hell is Ralph, a friend of Dante whom he calls after exiting hell, and Beatrice, Dante's dead lover. God is additionally a character portrayed in the Harrowing of Hell scene. The following is an incomplete list of characters ordered quasi-chronologically in the film and where in hell they reside:
Reception
Film critic Curt Holman gave the film 3 stars and said it had a "far-ranging and bawdy satirical spirit." Film critic Kevin Stewart said "such political satire is very fitting for the manner and the times."
"There’s enough of the divinely comic in this 'Inferno' to justify a pair of sequels"
-Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix, March 2007
"...feels like the unholy offspring of Mike Judge and R. Crumb."
– Robert Abele, LA Times, May 2007
Director Sean Meredith won the "Best Director" award at the Silver Lake Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2007, and the film won the "Audience Favorite" award at the San Francisco IndieFest in 2007. Boston Underground Film Festival gave it the Spirit of Underground award in 2007. The jury at the 2007 Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival gave the award for Best Narrative Feature.