I caught this film at Dead By Dawn 2011 and this has to be one of the most disturbing and harrowing short films I have ever seen.
The film follows the day to day lives of a family haunted by the physical and psychological abuse performed by the father, I will not go into too much depth on what is seen as to spoil the overall effect of this little gem of a movie.
This Spanish short was originally commissioned by the Spanish government to highlight spousal and child abuse. It was then banned by the said government for being to harrowing.
The film is lit in such a way as to make you feel unnerved all the way through, the director is very competent and understands the medium well utilising many tricks of the horror genre for a film that is impossible to pigeon hole in one genre. The acting is very solid and extremely believable, and you find yourself holding your breath and praying the characters escape the horrendous abuse they suffer during it's short 20 minutes.
Seeing this film in a festival environment is probably the best way to consume a film such as this. As you are present with like minded people who enjoy the horror genre, and it was easy to tell how this effected people. Normally after walking out people were chatting, laughing and applauding the film, in this film's case people were silently moving out of the theatre and in the bar after the film the tension was palpable, people were honestly moved by what they had seen.
I can highly recommend this beautifully shot, acted and directed short film. But only on one viewing. It is very hard to get the horrific scenes out of your mind once you have seen it but it is a film that should be seen by everyone as it shows the true horror of abuse and it's effects on people's lives.
The film follows the day to day lives of a family haunted by the physical and psychological abuse performed by the father, I will not go into too much depth on what is seen as to spoil the overall effect of this little gem of a movie.
This Spanish short was originally commissioned by the Spanish government to highlight spousal and child abuse. It was then banned by the said government for being to harrowing.
The film is lit in such a way as to make you feel unnerved all the way through, the director is very competent and understands the medium well utilising many tricks of the horror genre for a film that is impossible to pigeon hole in one genre. The acting is very solid and extremely believable, and you find yourself holding your breath and praying the characters escape the horrendous abuse they suffer during it's short 20 minutes.
Seeing this film in a festival environment is probably the best way to consume a film such as this. As you are present with like minded people who enjoy the horror genre, and it was easy to tell how this effected people. Normally after walking out people were chatting, laughing and applauding the film, in this film's case people were silently moving out of the theatre and in the bar after the film the tension was palpable, people were honestly moved by what they had seen.
I can highly recommend this beautifully shot, acted and directed short film. But only on one viewing. It is very hard to get the horrific scenes out of your mind once you have seen it but it is a film that should be seen by everyone as it shows the true horror of abuse and it's effects on people's lives.