Writers: Ziad Abaza and Dan Pringle
Director: Dan Pringle
The title, Die Before You Die, relates to the concept of spiritual enlightenment which causes a person to change their ways and lead a new life becoming, in effect, reborn.
Adi (Ziad Abaza who co-authored the film with director Dan Pringle) is an online influencer with a declining audience. Adi attracts viewers by way of hard man stunts – completing a vast number of military style physical exercises- but has lost subscribers due to making offensive remarks.
A chance meeting with a fan named Lee (Harry Reid) offers Ali a potential new challenge which might attract wider interest. Lee just happens to be involved with a mysterious sect of Islamic mystics and proposes Ali undertake one of their endurance rituals involving being buried alive for three days with no food and only a tube to allow oxygen and scant amounts of water. Once entombed, however, Ali must face the possibility the stunt might actually be a death trap, set by rivals or people he has offended, as the promised supply of water dries up leaving him alone in darkness to face his personal demons.
There are suitable red herrings in the film to support the concept Ali has walked into a trap. Lee, a white male, speaks fluent Arabic and is suspiciously friendly with the members of the sect who might also hold a lethal grudge about Ali’s careless remarks. In the main, however, director Dan Pringle avoids the usual ominous horror movie vibe of encroaching danger for a creepy sense of things being disturbing because they do not conform to standard behaviour. There is an odd combination of the mundane and the mystic. Although the religious sect behaves in an unworldly manner, they meet in a conventional community centre and Ali is obliged to use a public toilet to change into a burial shroud.
There are umpteen stories of unpleasant characters being compelled to change their ways by extreme experiences. But unlike, say, Scrooge whose background explained his miserly ways and generated a sense he was worthy of redemption, Ziad Abaza’s Ali is simply unpleasant. It is hard to take Ali seriously- his online persona is very much in the manner of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Ali G, a loudmouth wide boy speaking in affected, and irritating, rude boy-style. Viewers might wonder if anyone could care enough about such an unlikeable character to bother to push him to change.
Trapped in his grave Ali experiences paranoia, considering he has been betrayed by his friend who talked him into participating in the stunt, but also a degree of guilt over his past selfish behaviour. As in the movie Castaway Ali shares his feelings with an inanimate object – a toy from his daughter- which also serves to remind him of his poor parenting.
Despite the desperate situation in which Ali is placed there is little suspense in the film. It is more a case of Ali being forced into self-examination than facing danger so unless you are able to relate to his enforced inner journey the movie bogs down significantly in the middle. There are only limited ways in which it is possible to make someone stuck in a tight space visually interesting.
The climax, if you accept it is possible to escape from a grave without suffocating, is unexpected but accords with the spiritual journey of enlightenment approach taken by director Pringle. The lengthy sequence is even more powerful by being without dialogue and Ziad Abaza’s body language does suggest a degree of humility and gratitude on the part of Ali.
The unconventional approach taken in Die Before You Die is commendable but requires a degree of patience on the part of the viewer.
Die Before You Die is in select cinemas 4 October.
