The Beasts: Five stars for this terrific, gripping western in disguise
Published date | 23 March 2023 |
Sorogoyen has worked hard at conveying the unforgiving rigour of the rural lifestyle. It adds to the film's enigmatic appeal that, though the meaner neighbours are violent bullies, it is hard not to sympathise with their core argument. Alex de Pablo's camera – playing off a sometime abrasive score – finds real beauty here, but few among us would enjoy carving a living from the rocky soil. Particularly antagonistic to the blow-ins are cackling Xan (Luis Zahera) and his unsophisticated brother, Lorenzo (Diego Anido). Any opportunity to sneer at "Frenchie" is gobbled up greedily. "Did you know the French came here to conquer us in the past?" Xan says. "They came for us because they thought we were morons." Nobody in Ireland could reasonably argue with a nation that traces its animosity back to the era of Napoleon. Only so far?
Initially somewhat overshadowed by her husband, Olga gradually emerges as the more resilient and strategic of the two
As the film progresses, the...
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