Erin StapletonDown on the Farm
August 8th 2008 14:34
"La Rabia" Albertina Carri (2008)
In an understated attempt at irony, one of the main characters of 'La Rabia' is wearing a World Wildlife Fund jumper with the "save the pandas" slogan during a pig slaughter. That sort of sets the scene for the film. It is histrionic, and boring, and the graphic slaughter scenes will really only upset adamant vegetarians, and hypocrites. (They are relatively humane, ordinary farm slaughters, no torture involved.) What makes the film bearable is the beautiful (if not somehow dystopic) landscape and amber-glow lighting.
Other than that, the film is populated by dense farmers, fucking each other, fighting each other, and thinking of ways to insult each other's children. A nice effect, actually, is quite often, when the little boy is scared, or doing something that could get him in trouble, the soundtrack of his breathing claustrophobically surrounds the audience. It makes the film sinister. And, I kept expecting something really brutal and awful to happen, but it never really did. So long as they don't hurt the ponies or the kittens, I'm fine.
The director utilised intercut ink on watercolour animations, which was quite a nice effect, especially when they were more abstract, but I don't think they really resonated with the story enough. It's a bit like they were thrown in there because they were a nice effect, without enough consideration for how they operated in the film as a whole. The stocky kid is annoying and distracting (Bill Henson has nothing on this film, I'm really surprised it wasn't banned), and overall, the film has a sort of patronising attitude toward country life. And feels very much like one has seen this rustic rural film (and a million others) a million billion times before.
5.5/10
In an understated attempt at irony, one of the main characters of 'La Rabia' is wearing a World Wildlife Fund jumper with the "save the pandas" slogan during a pig slaughter. That sort of sets the scene for the film. It is histrionic, and boring, and the graphic slaughter scenes will really only upset adamant vegetarians, and hypocrites. (They are relatively humane, ordinary farm slaughters, no torture involved.) What makes the film bearable is the beautiful (if not somehow dystopic) landscape and amber-glow lighting.
(still from 'la rabia')
Other than that, the film is populated by dense farmers, fucking each other, fighting each other, and thinking of ways to insult each other's children. A nice effect, actually, is quite often, when the little boy is scared, or doing something that could get him in trouble, the soundtrack of his breathing claustrophobically surrounds the audience. It makes the film sinister. And, I kept expecting something really brutal and awful to happen, but it never really did. So long as they don't hurt the ponies or the kittens, I'm fine.
The director utilised intercut ink on watercolour animations, which was quite a nice effect, especially when they were more abstract, but I don't think they really resonated with the story enough. It's a bit like they were thrown in there because they were a nice effect, without enough consideration for how they operated in the film as a whole. The stocky kid is annoying and distracting (Bill Henson has nothing on this film, I'm really surprised it wasn't banned), and overall, the film has a sort of patronising attitude toward country life. And feels very much like one has seen this rustic rural film (and a million others) a million billion times before.
5.5/10
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