The light...
"It is said that on the gates of hell is written:
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
Yet it is here, in the midst of these pariahs, these reprobates,
that the true sense of my quest became clear.
I, Persephone,
having dedicated my life to curing minds,
saw, in the body of a patient,
the birth of a possible salvation.
The force that emanates from Saint George is beyond us.
I do not understand it yet,
but I know that no one on this station shall be spared."
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
Yet it is here, in the midst of these pariahs, these reprobates,
that the true sense of my quest became clear.
I, Persephone,
having dedicated my life to curing minds,
saw, in the body of a patient,
the birth of a possible salvation.
The force that emanates from Saint George is beyond us.
I do not understand it yet,
but I know that no one on this station shall be spared."
— Persephone
Dante 01 is a 2008 French science fiction directed by Marc Caro, one of the great minds behind The City of Lost Children and starring Lambert Wilson and Dominique Pinon.
This film follows the story of a mysterious man sent to a galactic space prison in the future. As he is placed with the threatening prisoners, his great powers begin to emerge, spawning unrest between the inmates and the doctors studying them.Saint George, as the man is called, must survive the hostilities of his fellow prisoners and the new doctor who wants to use them all as lab rats, all while struggling with the power that compels him to save everyone from the impending disaster that threatens all their lives.
This film contains examples of:
- Arc Words: "I'll explain the rules of our little world."
- Blessed with Suck: Saint George heals people by reaching inside them to remove their physical and mental sicknesses manifested as parasites. When he takes them into himself, they cause him great pain as they start to feed on him.
- Crucified Hero Shot: There are quite a few, especially at the end.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Lazare proves to be this to Cesare.
- For Science!: One of Elisa's justifications for using the inmates as guinea pigs.
- Genesis Effect: At the end Saint-George sacrifices himself and the creatures inside him terraform Dante in seconds.
- Hallucinations: Saint George's perceptions are distorted by flashes of blinding light and glowing chakras, leaving him perpetually dazed.
- Heroic Sacrifice: More or less Cesar, and most definitely Saint-George in multiple ways.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: what happens to Elisa when she is encounters Lazare
- I Owe You My Life: Moloch refuses to kill Saint-George after he saves his life.
- Ironic Name: the man named Lazarus is not the one resurrected by the messiah figure
- Knockout Gas: The staff use this to incapacitate the inmates when they cause disturbances.
- Meaningful Name: The film is riddled with this.
- The hellish planet the prison orbits is Dante
- The prison staff are named after denizens of Hell, such as Charon and Persephone. The guards are named Cer and Bures after the watchdog of the underworld.
- The prisoners are all named after revered historical figures, from gods and religious figures (Moloch, Bouddha, Raspoutine, and Lazarus) to rulers (Cesar and Attila) to a fabled hero.
- Messianic Archetype: Saint George is even a messiah or savior by most of the other characters.
- Mercy Kill: Bouddha claims this to be the reason behind his murders. After he tries this on Saint-George,Cesar calls him out saying he gets off on killing, not saving people.
- Motherly Scientist: As the scientist who expresses reserved caring for the inmates, Persephone is described by the director as a mother without children.
- The Napoleon: The short,egotistical Cesar with the two lackeys.
- No Name Given: Raspoutine gives Saint George his nickname, claiming he is a hero sent from God because of the tattoo of a knight slaying a dragon his shoulder.
- Playful Hacker: Attila repeatedly teases Charon when he hacks into his computer.
- Prison Ship: What Dante 01, the institution orbiting the fiery planet, is.
- Redemption Equals Death: What Cesar does in the end
- Seven Deadly Sins: The director said the personalities of the inmates were inspired by these; such as Cesar representing Pride, Lazare is Wrath, and Moloch is Gluttony.
- Taking You with Me: Before Attila kills himself, he hacks into the ship's controls and sets it to crash into Dante
- The Voiceless: The only words Saint George ends up saying are "The light..."
