Satanas

While I´m not much for movie reviews (overly unpersuasive wankery for the most part) I do want to send along a positive movie review that 99% of the people reading this blog will never have the chance to see (as in 9 of the 10 readers).

The movie is called Satanas and is a Colombian production. Colombian movies, I have found, generally tend to be pretty good. That’s probably because they’re all focused on some of the actual craziness that goes on here and there just aren’t budgets to be making $200 million mistakes. Take El Colombian Dream, for example. It was a very entertaining movie that dealt with the strong subject of a “normal” middle class family getting involved in the drug business, almost by accident. It was an entertaining movie, but also spread a bit of light on some of the tough subjects that are dealt with here.

(The beginning, in particular, was extremely heavy. It was a narrative from the soul of an aborted baby waiting to be placed in the next available body.)

At any rate, Satanas is the “based on fact” story of a man who murdered about 30 people in a very popular restaurant back in 1985 (or so) before shooting himself. Like all people who commit those types of atrocities, he was fundamentally insane.

The movie follows the story lines of three people who were affected by the terrible Pozzetto Massacre. (Pozzetto was the name of the Italian restaurant where the massacre occurred). It’s a harsh and, at times, violent story. It is not an “easy” movie to watch like Shrek the Third, for example (which I found to be extremely disappointing, by the way).

What I found to be most exceptional about the film, however, is that through the narrative, the audience can almost come to understand the position and emotions of the killer. One can never know how someone like that feels, what they think, or how they got to that point, but this story does probably the best job I have seen. Moreover, the point is not to sympathize with the killer. It’s directly the opposite. He deserves no sympathy, but condemnation. But that doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t try to understand him.

Ultimately, I wanted to mention this film because I think it has universal artistic appeal. In the US, where we seem to have one of these shootings every 5 years, perhaps a movie like this one can serve the collective public’s desire to know why some things happen. Or, perhaps it’s just an entertaining film that fairly accurately depicts a series of terrible events with a precise emotional effect.

No matter, if you have a chance to see Satanas (or Satan in English), I strongly recommend the movie.