Ah, Cannbals. Usuaully when we think of a cannibal movie, we tend to think back to 1970's Italy, the hey day of all things cannibalistic and fun. While it's always a pleasure to watch an exploitative, romp through the jungle standard cannibal flick, it is always refreshing to see the tale of the cannibal told in a different light as well. Some of my favorite films in recent memory have been cannibal films. Mankind's biggest taboo has always been a subject that has intrigued people and at the same time, terrified them. While being a cannibal in the first place must be tough, imagine how much it would suck to be a cannibal family in the middle of the city who have lost their "hunter" and now have to fend for themselves. This interesting look into the family dynamic of a group of cannibals makes Jorge Michel Grau's full length film debut quite an interesting watch.
This gritty cannibal-drama starts off with the death of a man who is revealed to be the patriarch of a family in Mexico who relied on him to bring home meat for their bizarre cannibalistic ritual. Alone and hungry, the responsibility of family leader and hunter shifts to the eldest teenage son, Alfredo. Alfredo and his other two teenage siblings, Julian and Sabina, are not quite prepared to take over such an enormous task but they are ready to try since they need to find someone for the ritual. They also have a mother, who is sort of useless and becomes reclusive after the death of the father. The ritual becomes important in the plot of the film as it is revealed to be of such extreme importance that it precedes all other needs of the family, including life and freedom. What exactly is so important about this ritual, I don't know. My interpretation was that it was in sorts a brainwashing technique initiated by the father in an attempt to rationalize their psychological "need" for human flesh. But this can be left open to interpretation.
Some low-grade cops are onto the fact that there are cannibals in the city because the coroners found a finger in the stomach of the deceased father. No other high-ranking officers want to take on this case because apparently it s a common, trivial ordeal. However, these two that take an interest feel that by solving this case they will be rich and recognized. The two teenage sons begin to cruise the streets looking for their meat, and when they do bring someone home, they are screamed at by their mother who finds it unacceptable to eat "whores". She fails to recognize Alfredo as leader due to his poor decisions, but he is adamant at this point. On to the next one.
The film is interesting because it presents such an interesting dynamic to the family in turn of leadership, views on their lifestyle, and how they struggle to adjust after the sudden death of their father. We watch them fight over what kind of people are allowed to be presented for this ritual. We watch three teenagers struggle to put the pieces together and step into leadership roles. We watch the mother slowly break down and struggle with the drastic shift in power within the family unit. We watch the eldest teenager grow as he morphs into his role as the leader and slowly begins to turn from an amateur "hunter" into a manipulative killer who does what he needs to do, despite his comfort level, to ensure the survival of the family. At the end of the day, I would certainly label this a family drama with the theme of cannibalism rather than a horror.
There are certainly cons to the film as well. First off, I have never seen such a sloppy, careless family of cannibals in my life. Perhaps this was intended as the family was essentially being led by teenagers who had never tried to kidnap someone before, but the scene where the mother drops the dead "whore" back onto the street in front of all the other prostitutes and screams at them just seemed odd. There is a scene where two different family members bring home people for the ritual and as they are fighting over who gets to choose, they forget about the second person and he gets away. Just little things like this that make me wonder how in the world this family has gone on so long without being caught. Granted the father is dead and there are bound to be mistakes, but what, does the whole rest of the family lack a brain cell of common sense? Perhaps there is some kind of social commentary about the rough life on the streets and the lax policy on crime of Mexico City thrown in here, but I don't know enough about Mexico City to confirm whether that's the case. Overall, this film was an enjoyable drama that may appeal to a much broader audience than the kind of films I typically write about. I would definitely recommend seeing it before the inevitable American remake comes out.
3 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS
*** 1/2 out of *****
This gritty cannibal-drama starts off with the death of a man who is revealed to be the patriarch of a family in Mexico who relied on him to bring home meat for their bizarre cannibalistic ritual. Alone and hungry, the responsibility of family leader and hunter shifts to the eldest teenage son, Alfredo. Alfredo and his other two teenage siblings, Julian and Sabina, are not quite prepared to take over such an enormous task but they are ready to try since they need to find someone for the ritual. They also have a mother, who is sort of useless and becomes reclusive after the death of the father. The ritual becomes important in the plot of the film as it is revealed to be of such extreme importance that it precedes all other needs of the family, including life and freedom. What exactly is so important about this ritual, I don't know. My interpretation was that it was in sorts a brainwashing technique initiated by the father in an attempt to rationalize their psychological "need" for human flesh. But this can be left open to interpretation.
Some low-grade cops are onto the fact that there are cannibals in the city because the coroners found a finger in the stomach of the deceased father. No other high-ranking officers want to take on this case because apparently it s a common, trivial ordeal. However, these two that take an interest feel that by solving this case they will be rich and recognized. The two teenage sons begin to cruise the streets looking for their meat, and when they do bring someone home, they are screamed at by their mother who finds it unacceptable to eat "whores". She fails to recognize Alfredo as leader due to his poor decisions, but he is adamant at this point. On to the next one.
The film is interesting because it presents such an interesting dynamic to the family in turn of leadership, views on their lifestyle, and how they struggle to adjust after the sudden death of their father. We watch them fight over what kind of people are allowed to be presented for this ritual. We watch three teenagers struggle to put the pieces together and step into leadership roles. We watch the mother slowly break down and struggle with the drastic shift in power within the family unit. We watch the eldest teenager grow as he morphs into his role as the leader and slowly begins to turn from an amateur "hunter" into a manipulative killer who does what he needs to do, despite his comfort level, to ensure the survival of the family. At the end of the day, I would certainly label this a family drama with the theme of cannibalism rather than a horror.
There are certainly cons to the film as well. First off, I have never seen such a sloppy, careless family of cannibals in my life. Perhaps this was intended as the family was essentially being led by teenagers who had never tried to kidnap someone before, but the scene where the mother drops the dead "whore" back onto the street in front of all the other prostitutes and screams at them just seemed odd. There is a scene where two different family members bring home people for the ritual and as they are fighting over who gets to choose, they forget about the second person and he gets away. Just little things like this that make me wonder how in the world this family has gone on so long without being caught. Granted the father is dead and there are bound to be mistakes, but what, does the whole rest of the family lack a brain cell of common sense? Perhaps there is some kind of social commentary about the rough life on the streets and the lax policy on crime of Mexico City thrown in here, but I don't know enough about Mexico City to confirm whether that's the case. Overall, this film was an enjoyable drama that may appeal to a much broader audience than the kind of films I typically write about. I would definitely recommend seeing it before the inevitable American remake comes out.
3 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS
*** 1/2 out of *****