The Burning Plain

Strange.

The movie, constantly switching between the past and present, is about a girl who is deeply affected by her adulterous mother and her death, which she accidentally caused. The girl lights fire to the gas pipe of the trailer inside which, are her mother and her mother's boyfriend. She does not mean to kill them, but when the gas tank explodes, it consumes the entire vehicle.

We are now shown the present, in which the girl, who is now Charlize Theron, is working in a big restaurant and doing well. She has changed her name to get away from her past but she sleeps with different men and inflicts bruises on herself physically. She is clearly not at peace.

Again back in the past, the girl and the son of her mom's boyfriend meet each other and start having an affair. Her father finds out and they both elope to Mexico. She is also pregnant, but does not want to have the baby. Later, she does have the baby but abandons it and the father.

In the present again, the baby has grown up and the father has an accident. His friend goes looking for the girl, finds her, and tells her about the accident and her daughter. She is terrified of her past and tries to run away from her responsibilities but later realizes that she can't run anymore. She goes back to meet her daughter and the man she loved.

The story is complex. Flashes of stories are woven together intricately. At first one is confused as to what is happening. But once the sequence of events falls into place, it all makes sense again. I like such weird movies, which are difficult to get at first, a favorite being 'The Butterfly Effect'. One thing I dont understand is the need for western actresses to shed all clothing when unnecessary. Charlize is literally prancing about butt naked. I mean, whats the need? Anyways.. I guess it had to do with her character. I liked the way they showed the guilty mother and how she tries to brush away the affair for her children. I couldnt understand some dialogues as they were in Spanish (most probably!!) and I just could't find the English subtitles.

The movie overall is strange as I said above. Very few people will actually like it, while most will dismiss it as crap. I wouldn't really recommend it, but it could be watched, with an open mind.