Directed by Andrea De Sica, the Italian original “Don’t Kill Me” (“Non Mi Uccidere”) is a refreshing oddity in the ever-expanding repertoire of streaming platforms. Although the film achieves more sentiment than genre, it would be safe to label it a gory supernatural drama about a doomed relationship. It’s like “Twilight”, only better. There are no vampires as such, only undead.
After dying of a drug overdose with her adrenaline-addicted boyfriend as an accomplice, Mirta crawls out of her burial vault. However, she may not be the same person her family once knew. After seeing a suicide on screen, it may have been hard for some of you to take in the rest of the ending. If the conclusion seems a little too hasty, let’s dig deeper. FRONT SPOILERS.
Don’t Kill Me Plot Synopsis
Mirta and her boyfriend Robin are speeding down a mountain road. Robin decides to close her eyes while driving, urging Mirta to tell her to move. They drive around a heavy vehicle, saved by sheer luck and some ingenuity from Robin. Mirta and Robin head to a car depot and Robin heats up some black tablets. They consume the drug with their eyes, and the next thing we know, they both die of overdoses.
Piero, Mirta’s father, consoles Amalia, her mother, for the tragedy in the morgue. Piero warned Mirta not to get involved with Robin, but Amalia, who appears to be in shock, couldn’t believe her daughter was dead. The story goes back and reconstructs some moments of Mirta’s past. In the present day, she walks away from her burial vault and finds herself at the neon-lit Dante’s Diner. Mirta momentarily sees Robin in the crowd, while a guy named Mario at the club persuades Mirta to come online. In the meantime, something has changed – and Mirta feels it too.
Mirta can see her hand turn black and she may need blood to survive. Mirta gets in the car with Mario, introducing herself as Luna. Mario takes the name as an indication of Mirta’s erratic personality, but he didn’t exactly go for an animated zombie. Mario dies, and in another incident, a mysterious man named Luca Bertozzi appears at the doorstep of Mirta’s family. He claims to belong to the cult organization Benandanti. Luca tries to explain to Piero that Mirta could return, although she is presumed dead.
Don’t Kill Me ending: Is Mirta dead or alive?
If we choose between dead or alive, Mirta is mostly dead. However, per movie preference, Mirta is “Overdead”. The Overdeads are powerful creatures wandering around the planet who were given an evil lease on life after their first death. Since they are already dead, these people cannot die. However, as Luca Bertozzi will explain later, they can eventually decompose if you don’t give them food – more like blood. By reviving the premise of immortality and vampirism in a new guise, the film embraces its necropolitics or subversion.
The film also genre the conflict between life and (over)death. In a world full of men like Piero (the cheating father), Robin (the manipulative boyfriend), Luca (the authority) and Mario (a sex fiend), girls like Sara and Mirta feel like outcasts all every day, even when they’re not bloodsucking zombies. However, as zombies, they reclaim authority – as evidenced by Mirta changing her name to Luna and dropping her previous persona.
Mirta continues to beat a room full of Benandanti goons towards the final. In the end, Mirta sides with Sara, and as two carrier women against the world, they become a team. Thus, as long as there are bodies left to prey on, Mirta – or Luna, her undead version – is alive, though the Benandanti may catch up to her later.
How did Mirta become undead? Is Robin dead or alive?
Well, long story short, Paolo, who died in the quarry, was a friend of Robin and Ago. Robin was joking that a vampire ate Paolo, and it turns out that Paolo actually became an Overdead. Probably, Paolo introduced Robin to the cult band Benandanti. He procured the drug from there and tried it, becoming an Undead and accompanying Mirta on the journey to the Unholy Realm.
Robin was aware of the result of the drug abuse, while Mirta was not. Thus, Mirta blames Robin for killing her in the end, and she sides with Sara, moving away from Robin’s seductive ways. The other Benandanti shoot him in the back. Although Robin’s outcome remains uncertain, the Benandanti likely tortured Robin to death. However, since he’s also an Overdead, killing him wouldn’t be as easy as it looks on paper.
Is Ago dead or alive? Why does Ago kill himself?
Ago is a good friend of Robin whom Mirta meets in the crypt, and after snorting cocaine, Ago first thinks he is hallucinating Mirta. Although Ago and Robin broke up when Robin met Mirta, Ago still has a bittersweet feeling – a mix of longing and grudge, if you will – for Mirta. However, when Ago sees Mirta, he doesn’t act like he’s seen a ghost. When Mirta asks why Ago is not afraid, Ago says he is surrounded by death – hers, Robin’s and Paolo’s.
The lure of death is too strong in Ago’s living presence. He wants to trace the other side of the Entombment, much like Mirta and the other Overdeads. Therefore, Ago embraces Mirta, urging her to drink her blood. Mirta tries to drink from Ago’s neck but later backs down as if some force is stopping her from committing the murder. In his mind, Ago thinks that if Mirta drinks his blood after he dies, he will also turn into a “zombie”. He attempts to try out his theory in a delirious frenzy, but he does not become an Overdead. We conclude that Ago is dead.
Who are the Benandanti?
The Benandanti are a 17th century quasi-religious sect that attempts to eradicate the undead from the face of the planet. They are like witch hunters, even though they operate like a band of secret state police. A day after Mirta’s public death, Luca Bertozzi finds himself at Mirta’s house. He is the clan’s spokesperson, and this is by no means his last appearance in the film. When Mirta is busy drinking Suzy’s blood, the Benandanti thugs reappear, and with guns. Although Mirta escapes death, Piero ends up dying in the process.
Later, a Benandanti spy captures Mirta from the crypt. Luca holds her captive with a chain, while he surprises Mirta with Robin’s presence. After getting along with Robin at night, Mirta goes out to investigate a moan. She sees the lot torturing Sara and single-handedly saves Sara from the goons. However, the Benandanti still go wild and a sequel could be imminent.
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