Searching For Hell

Searching for Hell is a thought-provoking and captivating Polish-International hybrid feature length documentary from 2015. This intriguing underworld exploration film conceived by Borys Lankosz, Pawel Piatek, Karol Paciorek, Glynn Beard, and James Kenney seeks to uncover the hidden truths and age-old secrets of what exists in the world beneath us. Like nothing you've seen before, this one-of-a-kind documentary features five different directors from around the world who ventures to five "hells" on earth.

This mesmerizing patchwork of narratives combined with stunning visuals and heart-rending storytelling is a poignant investigation into the human fascination, fear, and mythology of hell. While a relatively cryptic concept, Searching for Hell cuts through the haze, exploring the physical locations on our planet that happen to be named Hell and the various interpretations in different cultures, traditions and religious beliefs.

The film's journey begins in Poland, with Director Borys Lankosz heading to the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic, also known as the 'Bone Church.' His segment, titled "See No Evil," gives us a chilling first look into the theme of the underworld. Lankosz effectively combines historical research with a close look at this unique ossuary and its eerie arrangement of human remains.

In the second segment, Artist and Filmmaker Karol Paciorek takes the viewer to the Hell-themed amusement park in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius. Titled "Play Art from Hell," this segment presents an unconventional twist into how the concept of hell is used in today's consumer-based society. Exploring the theme park's strange attractions, Paciorek's take on hell is full of fun and full of inquiries into our perception of the afterlife.

In "Sunday's Salvation," Irish filmmaker Glynn Beard moves away from the conventional meanings attached to the idea of hell. By visiting a picturesque yet eerie ghost town named Hell in Norway, Beard contemplates the concept of isolation and escape and the hellish fear of loneliness that can reside within a human heart and mind.

American filmmaker James Kenney takes us on a journey to the barren but beautiful Hell desert in America in his segment "The Desert of the Real." This double-layered approach employs both the physical desolateness of the desert and an exploration of the online world as two parallel hells.

Finally, in "End of the Line," filmmaker Pawel Piatek takes us to the debatably acknowledged 'portal to hell’ in modern urban Japan. Here Hell comes alive in the form of a cyber café, always open, their isolated cubicles that become home for many, the physical embodiment of a digital age hermitage.

The film is striking in its use of varied visual storytelling techniques, with impressive cinematography capturing the distinct harshness and beauty of each "hell." The directors use a blend of interviews, historical documentation, visual arts, and personal anecdotes to demystify the concept of hell and illustrate its significant societal and personal implications.

Moreover, it subtly reveals our inherent human curiosity about the life after death, the fear of the beautiful yet unknown, and the contemplation of sin and punishment as it existed in various cultures and personal beliefs.

This otherworldly journey through these five "hells" does not just play a sleight of hand with the theological notion; its lens is focused on people's reactions, adaptations and meaning-making in encountering hell on earth. Searching for Hell ultimately becomes a contemplation on life, existence, and the human condition portrayed through unforgettable scenes presented in five unique yet intertwined narratives.

Searching for Hell is, in essence, a poetic, haunting, and deeply philosophical tale wrapped in the cloak of a travel documentary. This carefully crafted artistic documentary peels back the layers of the idea of Hell – paradoxically beautiful and terrifying – and how it shapes our understanding of the world and our place in it.