The first feature film by Argentinian director Juan Sebastian Torales, Almamula mixes religion and urban legends to create a captivating chronicle of adolescence and its upheavals. A gem to discover now in theaters.
Almamula, to be discovered at the cinema
In Santiago del Estero, in the north of Argentina, young Nino (Nicolas Diaz) is regularly the victim of homophobic acts from young people his age who find him effeminate. In order to protect him, his mother, a very religious woman, takes the whole family to the countryside for the summer holidays.
But the forest near the house is said to be haunted by the Almamula, a monster that, according to legend, abducts all those who commit carnal sins. While attending catechism lessons in preparation for his confirmation, Nino feels strangely drawn to the cursed forest.
Copyright Outplay FilmsA moving chronicle of adolescence…
Faced daily with bullying and mockery from his classmates, Nino isolates himself from his peers to adopt the position of an observer of the world around him, almost as a voyeur. From his older sister's friends frolicking in the pool to the mute Malevo (Beto Fragola), a shapely handyman who attracts the attention of women, Nino's curious gaze spies on his surroundings from the side, hidden behind his thick glasses.
Copyright Outplay FilmsEmbodied by Nicolas Diazthe frail and curious boy leads Almamula's spectators into his sylvan and mental wanderings, to the borders of dreaminess. A subtle metaphor of adolescence and its identity and moral wanderings.
Faced with his sexuality, a problem that arose at his young age, Nino is confronted with the constant guilt of the religious framework by which he is surrounded.
“There is always some progress with the passage of time.explains director Juan Sebastian Torales, but I think this story could even happen today. In fact, it still happens. Not just in Argentina. People are still being killed because they are gay. (…) We are still considered half-people, half-men.“
Charged with a strong political and moral subtext, Almamula constantly questions the relationship to beliefs, especially among adolescents in search of reference points. However, Juan Sebastian Torales' feature film does not stop at religious faith.
…crossing beliefs, more or less reassuring
After Grave, Le Règne animal or more recently Vampire humaniste cherche suicidal consentant, adolescence and its upheavals are once again at the heart of a fantastic film with almost horrific accents, particularly suited to initiatory stories.
“Puberty is a horror moviejustifies the director. She becomes this monster with hair and pimples (laughs). VYou change, you feel like you have to defy your parents and you feel like you fear nothing and no one. And because you are fearless, you find yourself in dangerous situations. So yes, it is a horror movie, indeed.”
If the horror genre lends itself particularly well to adolescent metamorphosis, it is another element that serves as a point of horrific tension in Juan Sebastian Torales' feature film: Almamula.
A particularly lively urban legend in northern Argentina, the Almamula is described as a monstrous equestrian creature, roaming the forests and mountains with its chains jingling, relentlessly chasing sinners.
Copyright Outplay FilmsDespite the psychological hold of this legend on his region and the workers who live there, Nino seems strangely attracted to it, as if eager to undergo its punishment. Confronted with the Christian thought that demonizes the homoeroticism constantly felt by the young man, the Almamula, which nevertheless plunges the film into a climate of permanent terror, ultimately serves as a deliverance.
“I think this is going to be a bit harsh, but from my point of view, any form of religion or political ideology, dogmas or anything that conditions human behavior is not a good thing. Almamula is a film in which its characters are constantly fighting for an ideal. They use this as a shield because they are afraid, because without this protection, they do not know how to be happy. Therefore, they cling to religion, to everything they have, thus disconnecting themselves from what is really happening.”
A fascinating initiatory tale, confronting beliefs to the border of the mystical and the horrific, Almamula is to be discovered in cinemas this week.