by Jeffrey Sipe
Peasants struggling to forge a sustainable life in the face of threats from cartels and the military have been the subject of several Mexican short and feature films in recent years. In 2021, Night of Fire, film adaptation of the novel Ladydi Jennifer Clement was the representative that Mexico sent to compete in the Oscars and many of the short films that GIFF has screened in its National Selection focus on young people facing the decision of choosing between a future with drug trafficking or a life of poverty.
Sanctorum, from director Joshua Gil, is set in a similar setting, but adds a metaphysical context unique to the genre. As mysterious as it is magical, the film never diminishes the reality of the violence and fear that has gripped the lives of those who work the land. In this way, a seemingly simple story manages to encompass enormous implications.
Filmed in the mountains of Oaxaca with non-professional actors and spoken almost entirely in Mixe, Sanctorum It shows a rural town caught between the cartels and the military, where marijuana has become the only viable product. The cartel pays a pittance to the villagers who grow the weed, while the military labels them criminals for working with the cartels. “It’s the only thing I know how to do,” says one of them, referring to farming.
The film opens with an elderly couple talking about a strange phenomenon – a sound “like a bell in the sky” – that has baffled the entire town. “Something is going to happen,” says the old man, and indeed, the sound is a harbinger of things to come.
Through the character of the village teacher, the moral center of the film, Gil emphasizes the urgency of a debate on the deterioration of life in the countryside:
«We are in so much pain that we are running out of patience. The government thinks we are the criminals. And that is a lie. We are peasants and we cannot do anything else. We only plant grass to feed our children. We have no other option than to be given by the government or our lives. Every day our people are killed by drug traffickers. And when they leave, the army arrives. They humiliate us. They treat us like animals. They beat us. They attack our women. We cannot allow this to happen anymore…»
This is the message that Gil wants to convey, but not through bloody clashes between the peasants, the cartel and local officials. Instead, he presents an apocalyptic vision, the way for the universe to put an end to the inescapable evil that has befallen the town.
Sanctorum It is a film about violence, with very little on-screen violence. We see it from afar, we hear it behind closed doors. We know the sickening violence. But the life of the peasants is in the foreground, a life that has been the same for centuries until the cartels arrived.
Sanctorum It is a beautiful and challenging film, which requires concentration from the viewer. And it is well worth it.
After its premiere at the renowned Venice Film Festival and a tour of international screens, Sanctorum premieres in Mexican theaters on September 22, in San Miguel it will be presented at the Cinematographic Compartment.
