I turned to Virgil and said, "Hang on, I'm not too sure about this."

May 1, 2007 4:39 PM

Dante's Inferno. A surfer-cum-Doré remix of the Divine Comedy's most famous chunk, from the book of the same name. The art of Sandow Birk informs this peculiar, but cool-looking spin on an old classic. Enjoy the trailer in glorious Quicktime, or suffer endlessly with the YouTube version. And while you're at it, check out their previous film - a mockumentary of California's civil war.
posted by Sticherbeast (13 comments total)

Neat!
posted by katillathehun at 4:51 PM on May 1, 2007

Wow, just one comment on this? This is - like the post says - peculiar but cool. I watched the trailer, and my reaction went from "meh" to "okay, this could be worth seeing" as I watched.
posted by wanderingmind at 5:03 PM on May 1, 2007

I'm sure that Dante did not put Stalin in the 4th ring of hell but Pope Pius XII for supporting the Ghibellines against the Guelphs.

Other than that; great.
posted by jouke at 5:05 PM on May 1, 2007

AH AM NOT MISSUS BUTTER WURTH'S I AM SENATAH STROM THURMUN'!

So awesome.
posted by basicchannel at 5:22 PM on May 1, 2007

I once saw a flash game based on it--of course, I didn't understand it since I've never read it, but it seemed interesting...maybe someone will be able to find it again.
posted by DMan at 5:42 PM on May 1, 2007

Jeff Spicoli's Inferno? Give me a fucking break. Please go build a time machine and use it to apologize to Mr Alighieri for taking his poem out for a spin without asking.
posted by Ohdemah at 5:55 PM on May 1, 2007

A friend of mine saw this at the SF Independent Film Fest. He said it was great.

This was the highlight of the festival for me.
posted by roll truck roll at 6:12 PM on May 1, 2007

Hell hath no fury like a bitter Classics major.
posted by Dizzy at 6:14 PM on May 1, 2007

Direct link to the large quicktime version if you'd rather just download.
posted by Leon at 6:16 PM on May 1, 2007

I'm glad that they apparently didn't need to cast anybody as Beatrice. I shudder to imagine her with, like, y'know, some sort of Valleygirl accent.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:05 PM on May 1, 2007

I saw this at the Atlanta Film Festival last week. Pretty good, more irreverant than I expected, and veeery partisan but funny enough where that was OK. Sure was nice to find Dick Cheney all the way down there at the bottom of Hell. True, he's not dead yet, but he's sold his soul already so there it is.
posted by intermod at 7:44 PM on May 1, 2007

Pretty good, more irreverant than I expected...

Yeah, this is the impression the trailer gives me. As if Inferno exists just as a prop for the directors larger axe to grind...diminishes the work, disrespectful.
posted by bullitt 5 at 8:58 AM on May 2, 2007

Actually, bullitt, Dante ground his axe extensively in the Divina Commedia. But all these references do not resonate emotionally with us now.
In the end given enough intermediary time any injustice or human suffering or sin is just history which people feel neutral about.
So, to experience Inferno nowadays the way that Dante intended one could argue that modern day villains should be substituted.

That's what my joke upstream alluded to btw.
posted by jouke at 10:53 AM on May 2, 2007