‘Rains Over Babel’ Review: This Tropical, Queer Riff on Dante’s Inferno Is a Dazzling, Daring Provocation
Manuel Betancourt There is no shortage of gonzo moments in Gala del Sol’s “Rains Over Babel.” A playful riff on Dante’s “Inferno,” the film is set in a fantastical retrofuturist vision of Cali, Colombia.
The tropical city, here reimagined as Purgatory through the lens of queer joy, magical realism and a dash of ’90s punk, plays backdrop to an age-old tale where life and death are gambled over games of dice.
Drag queens and demons roam neon-lit bars with equal poise. Kung fu fights casually unfold in BDSM dens. Brazen and bonkers alike, del Sol’s delightfully off-kilter quilt of a film is, if you let yourself succumb to its pleasures, a maximalist triumph.
In the global cultural imaginary, Colombia has long existed within two seemingly distinct though arguably complementary visions.
