Like the ominous wooden crosses planted by a father on the border to remind his wife and child that their narrative is raging in the fires of war, the Spanish film El páramo reminds us, that we humans cannot live without conflict; Our struggle with our people and our struggle with our illusions.
People fight among themselves while they live in groups, but with whom do they fight when they have to live alone? Hell is not the other, as Sartre claimed, and some have sung this saying as a luxury; Hell is our mind's illusions, and fear is the master of our feelings and the greatest controller of our thoughts and behavior.
delusional peace
Lucia (Inma Cuesta) and her husband Salvador (Roberto Alamo) live in illusory peace in an isolated house in the desolate countryside, a life that seems relatively calm and safe, until the father rides his horse and is gone, leaving the mother and her son (Azier Flores) alone, afraid of a terrifying creature, Who was bothering them in a mysterious and violent way day and night.
In the 19th century, Spain collides with violence, from the invasion of Neapolitan forces to the Carlist Wars to the Latin American conflict. The young family flees from war into a wasteland isolated in the midst of swamps, in a small house and its surrounding farm and barn, facing the legend of the beast and its imminent danger, warned by the arrival of a boat carried by the waters of the river and carrying a wounded warrior soldier, who came as a lone intruder to the Salvador family. Gathering his strength, he stood, pointing at the far horizon with his hand, before blowing his head off with gunpowder, so that this suicide would lead to the father's departure in search of the soldier's family, he told his wife, who was still holding his horse, perhaps to persuade him to reverse this sudden decision.
The movie El páramo and the symbolism of Covid isolation
The film seems like an allegory of isolation and the Covid epidemic, but it is hardly an unpleasant coincidence, at least in the scriptwriting phase, the pandemic has not yet occurred, and we have not yet begun to confront the ghosts that many of us have suffered since the outbreak of the Corona virus pandemic.
The film directed by “David Casademont” reminds us of the importance of the causal relationship between isolation and deteriorating mental health, as it is very likely that one will be afraid of things he has made with his own hands, if he remains confined to four walls, as is exactly what happens with the child “Diego” at the beginning of the film, where he appears Terrified by the little wooden figurines he used to carve by the fireplace while his mother told him tales.
The price of isolation is high
El páramo or “The Wilderness” is not a horror movie in the literal sense, it is a scary psychological movie, about self-destructive behaviors, and ways of thinking that lead man to hell.
The price of solitude is very high for a person as a social being, who cannot live without interaction with others, and a life of solitude may lead to human anxiety, schizophrenia, depression, and the attendant hallucinations and loss of self-esteem... Here, isolation in this movie breeds monsters.
The Salvador family develops neurotic anxiety into a state of fear of real, perceived or imagined dangers; Fear of the beast that if you see it you will be damned forever, fear of hunger after the storm has destroyed the corn crop, even rabbits are afraid of having their skulls smashed with the blow of a stick.
born to act
Not only the characters of the film, but even the viewer enters into a state of anxiety, from the colors of the sad, pale images, the cloudy sky, and the limited place that turns into a closed place in the last part of the film, bearing a feeling of claustrophobia, after the mother tries to take cover with her son and rabbits ( leftover food) inside the house, where they lock themselves up in anticipation of the monster's attacks, and their defense is a rifle, a few gunpowder cartridges, and sharp implements and sticks.
Azaire Flores, who played Diego, looks like one who was born to play blockbuster roles. He has already succeeded in playing the terrified child, which suggests a categorical refusal of his father's wishes to get the man out of him quickly in order to prepare him for survival and his mother's future care, Diego has always been passionate about discovering The world beyond flat and arid lands, crosses the borders to go far.
One day Salvador took his son aside and told him the story of the monster, a tall, thin, hollow-eyed creature. It is a creature that feeds on fear and only those who fear it can see it.