Gabriel is a 2007 Australian action-horror film set in purgatory. It follows the archangel Gabriel's fight to rid purgatory of the evil fallen angels and save the souls of its inhabitants. Gabriel is the first feature directed by Shane Abbess, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Matt Hylton Todd. It stars Andy Whitfield as Gabriel, Dwaine Stevenson as Sammael, Samantha Noble as Amitiel, and Erika Heynatz as Lilith.
As an action film, Gabriel is unconventional by Australian filmmaking standards. Produced without government funding on a low budget, the filmmakers aimed to create a film that could compete in international markets and become financially profitable. Upon its Australian release on 15 November 2007, Gabriel received mixed reviews and came fifth in its opening-week box office. Gabriel was released on DVD in the U.S. on 19 February 2008.
Plot Since the beginning of time, Heaven and Hell have fought over Purgatory and the souls trapped inside it. Each side has sent seven warriors: archangels (Arcs) from Heaven, fallen angels (Fallen) from Hell. They must assume human form to enter purgatory. Hell has attained control, transforming purgatory into a dark, seedy city. The last of the seven archangels, Gabriel (Andy Whitfield), endeavors to discover what has become of his comrades and to restore the Light.
Upon Gabriel entering purgatory, four of the seven Fallen—Sammael (Dwaine Stevenson) who is the Fallen's leader, Asmodeus (Michael Piccirilli), Balan (Brendan Clearkin), and Baliel—gather, and Sammael kills an insubordinate Baliel, so reducing the Fallen's number from seven to six. Meanwhile, Gabriel visits the archangel Michael's apartment, finding it abandoned. He finds a note from Michael in the apartment, saying how hard it is to stay pure in purgatory. While walking through the city, Gabriel receives a vision about the whereabouts of his comrade Uriel (Harry Pavlidis). However, Sammael senses Gabriel's presence and sends the Fallen Molloch (Goran D. Kleut) to kill him. Gabriel fights and kills Molloch, then proceeds to the city's outskirts. He finds a dishevelled and alcoholic Uriel hiding in a rundown bus. He explains that the Archangels all assumed human form and became subject to human desires and feelings which weakened them. Cut off from their power, the Archangels were eventually worn down and fell prey to the Fallen who thrived and became stronger the longer they stayed in purgatory. He reveals to Gabriel that this is what eventually led to the downfall of the Arcs sent before him. Uriel warns Gabriel that if they die in purgatory, their own souls will die too, they completely vanish. To encourage and remind Uriel of his identity, Gabriel mortally wounds Uriel, convincing Uriel to heal himself. Though surely aware of Gabriel's presence, Sammael commands the Fallen to wait before taking any action against Gabriel, even though they could defeat Gabriel; Sammael threatens the Fallen if they do anything to Gabriel. Uriel then explains to Gabriel that the Fallen can sense Archangels when they use their powers, and teaches Gabriel to conceal his bright blue angel eyes. Uriel also explains that due to the nature of the evil and darkness that controls purgatory that Gabriel will be cut off from the "source". He also reluctantly tells Gabriel what happened to some of the other five Archangels: Remiel was killed before Uriel arrived; the whereabouts of Ithuriel (Matt Hylton Todd), Raphael (Jack Campbell), and Michael are uncertain, but Raphael is most likely hiding in the East Side of the city and it is thought that Sammael has killed Michael; and Amitiel (Samantha Noble), who now calls herself Jade, was defeated by Sammael, stripped of her wings, and forced to work as a prostitute. Hearing this, Gabriel goes off into the city to search for Amitiel.
Gabriel travels back to the city, and finds the brothel where Amitiel works. He also encounters Asmodeus, the Fallen who runs the brothel. Gabriel rescues Amitiel and kills the Fallen Balan who tries to rape her. He then heals her of the drugs she has been taking to dull the pain of her job. As Gabriel's use of power makes his presence known in purgatory, the Fallen grow weary and impatient of waiting. Amitiel takes Gabriel to the soup kitchen where the Archangel Ithuriel hides. Initially angry at Ithuriel for abandoning his mission of seeking out and destroying the Fallen, Gabriel eventually shows him compassion and understanding. Ithuriel takes Gabriel to the abandoned tunnels beneath the soup kitchen where the gravely wounded Raphael dwells. Gabriel heals Raphael, expending much of his strength. After rebuking Gabriel, Raphael explains that Sammael draws his immense power from the other Fallen. Gabriel proposes to take out the remaining Fallen one by one, before finally facing Sammael. Raphael is unconvinced, as Sammael has already killed the stronger angel Michael.
Gabriel fights and kills the Fallen Ahriman (Kevin Copeland), then returns to Michael's apartment where he sketches a picture of Amitiel. At the same time Gabriel begins his campaign against the Fallen, the Fallen Lilith (Erika Heynatz) kills Uriel, Asmodeus kills Ithuriel, and Sammael kills Raphael. Driven mad by anger, Gabriel's eyes turn bright brown, the colour of the Fallen. He returns to the brothel seeking revenge against Asmodeus, killing armed men behind hotel room doors. He eventually finds Asmodeus and discovers him with his nigh unconscious female sex slave, whom he's been forcibly surgically altering to make her facially identical to himself so as to satisfy his narcissism. Asmodeus uses Gabriel's shock and sympathy toward the girl to his advantage and assaults him. Gabriel gains the advantage in the fight, viciously scars Asmodeus, thus enraging him, and then kills him. Gabriel halts his own imminent fall when he heals and restores the captive young woman and returns her to her original appearance. Shocked by his near fall, Gabriel returns to Amitiel. Amitiel comforts Gabriel and they strip naked before having sex. Gabriel then travels to a nightclub and kills Lilith, injecting her with several full vials of Ahriman's drugs. Gabriel searches for Sammael and is soon attacked and knocked out by the last Fallen Angel. Upon recovering, he chases Sammael to the nightclub's rooftop.
Sammael refuses to fight Gabriel, instead asking him to listen to what he has to say. He explains how he despises being an angel, a being created entirely to serve others. He sees purgatory as a chance to take control of his own destiny and lets Gabriel know that it was him all along keeping Gabriel protected and alive in a city amongst all the Fallen, and asks Gabriel to join him. Refusing his offer, Gabriel unwittingly realises that "Sammael" is actually the Archangel Michael, his closest friend (who had actually killed the real Sammael and assumed his identity). Though Michael was the one responsible for the deaths of the other Archangels, the real Sammael was the one to force Jade to give up her wings. The two Archangels fight, but because Gabriel has used up so much of his strength helping the other Archangels, even with Michael similarly growing weaker, Gabriel proves to be no match for Michael who severely beats him down and ultimately impales Gabriel's chest with a metal pipe. Gabriel admits that during his time as a human he has felt rage and anger, but he has also experienced things that Michael hasn't. An impaled Gabriel embraces Michael, which drives the metal pipe through Michael's chest also, and tells Michael that he forgives him. Both Archangels collapse. Before dying, Michael uses what remains of his strength to save Gabriel's life, healing his wound. Light returns to purgatory.
Kneeling in front of Michael's dead body, Gabriel shouts up at God asking "Is It This That You Wanted? Is It This You Wanted?!" The healed Gabriel moves to the edge of the rooftop, and muses that he needs to understand why all this happened. He outstretches his arms, and lets himself fall. His final words are, "Forgive me... I hope I see you again ..." A post-credits scene shows Gabriel, (wearing different clothing, minus angel wing tattoo and with brown eyes), joining Amitiel and smiling. (The DVD version of the film does not contain the post-credit scene.)
Production Financing Gabriel was made on a minuscule budget, even by Australian standards. Director Shane Abbess described the budget as "the catering budget on a Hollywood film." The film was shot for roughly . However, everyone involved in the production worked on deferred payment, meaning that the actual cost of the film runs "well into the millions" once deferrals have been taken into account. In addition, the filmmakers used money from the international distribution rights to complete the film's post-production. Shane Abbess claims that Gabriels official budget will eventually be announced on its DVD release in a two-hour behind-the-scenes special feature.
According to Abbess, finding funding for the film was "impossibly hard." The film was significantly funded out of the filmmakers' own pockets: Abbess worked as a building labourer, a removalist, at a call centre, and as a truck driver at the docks in order to raise the money to produce Gabriel. Five weeks into shooting, Abbess intended to return to his job as a removalist to raise more money to pay the caterers, but his old boss gave him a small sum of money to get the production over the line.
Preconceptions about what is an 'Australian film' contributed to the difficulty in finding funding. As an action film, Gabriel "defied the norm and went way outside convention." Producer Kristy Vernon states that "many Australia movies have been either driven by artistic or personal motivations or, have focused on cultural imperatives leading to 'uncommercial' movies being produced. These types of movies are unlikely to give off a reasonable return to investors. The consequence of this is that the Australian finance and investment sectors have been reluctant to support the funding of the movie industry." Abbess is critical of contemporary Australian films, joking that audiences "fall asleep" through them. He also believes there is a mentality in the Australian film industry to wait for government funding, rather than to earn and finance your own films. Everyone he spoke to about getting the film made said that, "even with a big, huge budget, you're not going to get this made out here." However, after he got one or two people on board support increased in a snowball effect.
Finding insurance for the film was also problematic. One day before filming was due to start the insurance company determined that the film was too risky, and tried to shut down production. Abbess struggled to find another company to insure the film, ultimately having to lie about the film's content to satisfy them (he claimed the film's dangerous climactic rooftop action scene was "all green screen"). The company agreed, but only after they tripled their original price. This meant that certain scenes had to be dropped from the production, though they were ultimately shot as pick-ups.
Development