Monos (2019) (Spanish Language)- BFI London Film Festival 2019

Review

102min

Genre:       Drama, Thriller, War

Director:    Alejandro Landes

Cast:         Sofia Buenaventura, Moises Arias, Julianne Nicholson…more

Writers:     Alejandro Landes and Alexis Dos Santos

-Synopsis-

In the remote mountains and jungles of Latin America, a small close-knit colony of armed, ritualistic young commandos lives wild and trains intensely while waiting for orders. But when a hostage situation escalates and tragedy strikes, the group dynamics shift and their behaviour becomes more extreme, as they’re placed into further conflict with the outside world, their shadowy guerrilla organisation . . . and inevitably themselves.

The fog of war, savagery of man, madness of conflict, the heart of darkness, and death of innocence; all potent and persistent human themes which have fuelled the fires of great literature and film through the ages, and all existential fodder for Colombian-Ecuadorian writer/director Alejandro Landes—as he pulls their thematic inspiration through the filter of ‘Apocalypse Now’ and ‘Lord of the Flies’ to create a dark, adolescent coming-of-age child soldier fever dream, and a South American survival odyssey to remember.

Sofia Buenaventura stars as teen guerrilla ‘Rambo’, alongside ‘Bigfoot’ (Moises Arias), ‘Lady’ (Karen Quintero), ‘Wolf’ (Julian Giraldo), ‘Swede’ (Laura Castrillón), ‘Boom Boom’ (Sneider Castro), ‘Dog’ (Paul Cubides) and ‘Smurf’ (Deiby Rueda), members of the young ‘Monos’ squad of ‘The Organisation’ paramilitary wing—training, pushing boundaries and partying on an isolated mountaintop camp while awaiting orders from their diminutive but formidable adult superior ‘El Mensajero’ (Wilson Salazar), as they protect their valuable American hostage the ‘Doctora’ (Julianne Nicholson). But when a tragic lapse in discipline and advancing government forces drag them to a deep jungle relocation, tensions escalate and order begins to break down, as their perverse adolescence soon turns into a deadly game of survival.

The very shape of the film and its story here is a reflection of its subjects, raw and impulsive like the adolescents but framed by the discipline of the militaristic environment in which they are forced to evolve, starting with a sense of (albeit wild) order and slowly unravelling into chaos and self-destruction, as the film morphs from a character conflict drama into a survival thriller, and even a chase film with shades of Mel Gibson’s ‘Apocalypto’. Yet despite its grit and realism, ‘Monos’ also maintains a slightly unsettling surrealist quality, particularly in its hallucinatory ritualistic moments—not to mention the good old fashioned mushroom trip—all reflecting the clear influences of ‘Apocalypse Now’ and its own surrealist human breakdown in the heart of darkness.

Brought to us by a Brazilian-born Colombian-Ecuadorian former journalist turned filmmaker, ‘Monos’ really is a story told with a Latin American voice, which although fictional, like all of Landes‘ work is deeply grounded in the realities of the region, in this case the post Escobar Marxist guerrilla recent history of Colombia, even featuring a former FARC member—the diminutive but mighty Wilson Salazar—as the only credited adult male character.

Taking the lore and history of films that have come before, Landes really has created a mesmerising and unflinching plunge into the dark recesses of human nature, but from a unique perspective, combining it with a gritty and unnerving coming-of-age drama where youngsters push the boundaries of sex, play and friendship from the confines of duty and exploitation, before truly going AWOL in every imaginable way.

All of that is made possible by the wonderfully intense and naturalistic performances from a young and progressive cast of mostly first-timers, with Sofia Buenaventura as Rambo and the hard-boiled Moises Arias as Bigfoot shining the brightest as diametrically opposed lead personalities. And then there’s the only screen veteran of the piece, the always excellent Julianne Nicholson playing the unwitting American hostage, serving as the audience’s eyes and ears to this madness, whose sense of desperation triggers her own primal instincts in this deadly game of survival.

This is a cast that was really made to sing for its supper though, as were the crew and the director, all enduring an unsurprisingly gruelling shoot both physically and psychologically, tested by the beautiful but unforgiving nature of the mountain ranges and river canyon jungles of central and northern Colombia where it was shot—locations so remote and unpredictable that they had never been captured in cinema before.

But boy is all that effort worth it and up on the screen in all its glory, as Landes and Dutch cinematographer Jasper Wolf use an array of camerawork—from low angle shots of high mountains and dense forests, to underwater and night vision close-ups—creating a visceral and occasionally claustrophobic visual tapestry of struggle and psychological decline, against the backdrop of stunning but unforgiving nature. The circle of energy and atmosphere is completed by an intense and intuitive score from musician, UK recording artist and impressive up-and-coming film composer Mica Levi.

In the end ‘Monos’—a versatile Spanish term most commonly used as a colloquialism for monkey, but in this case immature youngsters who feign adulthood—proves an unlikely Latin American indie triumph which conquers all, including a list of producers so long it gives a whole new meaning to the idiom ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’.

Ultimately the director’s vision shines through with a daring blend of styles and themes, and yes it is ‘Apocalypse Now’ meets ‘Lord of the Flies’, but it’s much more than that too. A tense human drama, conflict thriller and subversive coming-of-age tale, and a confronting child soldier lament—which stares right at the audience and asks, who are these kids now and what do we do with them?

The Bottom Line…

A visceral, hypnotic and invigorating journey into the heart of darkness, with ‘Monos’ Alejandro Landes delivers a dark but striking and reverential cinematic plunge into recess of human nature, but from a singular perspective—firmly establishing himself as a new force in Latin American cinema, and leaving us excited about how his voice might transcend cultures in the years to come.

‘Monos’ is out on the 25th of October in the UK, and in US cinemas now.

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