London, August 30, 1888: in the notorious district of Whitechapel, the body of a prostitute is found slashed and horribly mutilated; it is the first of five victims of Jack the Ripper, the mad killer who gained fame as the "first serial killer in history." The police, and in particular Inspector Frederic Abberline of Scotland Yard, set out on his trail, but the identity of Jack the Ripper is a dense mystery difficult to uncover and that, perhaps, should not be revealed… "From Hell" by the Hughes brothers brings back to the screen one of the most celebrated "black myths" of all time, Jack the Ripper. Based on the gloomy comic book story by Alan Moore, the film adds nothing new to the already established historical thesis that identifies the mad Ripper as a character linked in some way to the English Crown; rather, what stands out in the film is the atmosphere, the original touch that the two directors have managed to give to the story. The London sketched by the Hughes brothers is a gloomy and anguishing city as it had never been represented before: the district of Whitechapel, which serves as the backdrop to the exploits of Jack the Ripper, is populated by individuals without scruples, poor wretches, prostitutes who spend their miserable existence without a glimmer of hope; and it is through the eyes of these characters that the viewer witnesses the unfolding of the terrible events. The same positive protagonist of the story, Commissioner Abberline (magnificently portrayed by an excellent Johnny Depp) is a man enslaved by drugs, tormented by confused visions of his past and distorted premonitions of the future. In the smoky atmospheres of sordid streets and squalid rooms, barely lit by the uncertain light of candles and kerosene lamps, the mad killer brings horror and dismay but at the same time a kind of "liberation" for his poor victims, finally taken from their miserable existence. The cast is impressive: in addition to the aforementioned Johnny Depp, alongside him we find one of the most promising young actresses in Hollywood, Heather Graham ("Austin Powers"), in the role of the prostitute in love with Commissioner Abberline-Depp, Robbie Coltrane (the good giant of "Harry Potter") and a great Ian Holm ("Frankenstein by Mary Shelley"); the London of the late 19th century has been miraculously reconstructed in the outskirts of Prague, with maniacal care down to the smallest details, by the scenographer Martin Child, while the photography, a key element to give the film a gloomy and anguishing atmosphere, was handled by Peter Deming. In short, "From Hell" is undoubtedly an excellent film, the best, to date, among those made about the "mythical" figure of Jack the Ripper, which has its only flaw in the lack (now chronic for last-generation horror films) of "strong" scenes: a higher dose of blood with some "splatter effects" more would not have clashed at all with the film's atmosphere, and would have made the unfolding of the story even more chilling. To be fair, it must be said that the Italian version of the Hughes brothers' film has some micro-cuts (in the murder of the homosexual prostitute and in the final sequence of the killer's delirium) aimed at preventing the film from being released in theaters rated for minors (damned censorship!). A must-see film!
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