Sundance 2011 Review: All Your Dead Ones
Sundance 2011 Review: All Your Dead One
Award-winning director Carlos Moreno (Dog Eat Dog) returned to Sundance with his latest feature, the allegorical thriller All Your Dead Ones
Carlos Moreno returned to the Sundance Film Festival (his previous Sundance entry being the award-winning Dog Eat Dog) in 2011 with his latest feature, All Your Dead Ones. Winner of Best Cinematography in the World Dramatic Competition, the film is a taut, allegorical thriller utilizing careful, surrealistic flourishes to communicate deeper themes. On a non-descript Sunday within a small, Colombian village, local farmer Salvador tends to his family and chickens (apparently raising them in hopes to become fighting cocks) before setting out to spray down his crops with pesticide.
As he begins his work, the slightly cross-eyed farmer discovers a horrifying sight – a mound of massacred men, women, and children haphazardly piled up in the center of his field. Horrified by his discovery, Salvador quickly returns home and sets out to the village itself while leaving his wife, Carmen, and young son curious about what has happened. As they set out for the field themselves, Salvador makes his way into town which is in the midst of a tough, Mayoral election. Met with indifference and scorn, as missing person posters abound, the farmer eventually reports the massacre to the local Police captain and radio DJ before being shushed away. The corrupt Mayor, frightened of the murders’ political ramifications, hurries all involved back to both keep guard over the bodies and figure out the next move.
Soon enough, outside influences including a wealthy, corrupt land owner and human rights commission enter the fray leaving little doubt that someone else will be added to that pile soon. By removing as much specificity as possible from his storyline and setting, Moreno elevates the plot from a site-specific piece to broader allegory; all of Colombia, with its past of rampant, political corruption, intimidating drug cartels, and pacified populace stand in for this tiny village’s cast. Salvador himself becomes the foolish innocent, a man keeping an eye on his own business but aware of the danger he and his family are thrust into now. He soon shifts from fear into survival, figuring out how to protect his family given that the last thing anyone needs are more witnesses.
The Mayor and Police Captain represent inefficient, corrupt government under the implicit control of drug cartels, interested in their own self-preservation than performing their duties. The only moral compass left in this gallery of cynicism is Carmen herself; horrified by the deaths but ingrained with a deeper sense of justice, she alone shouts out to tell the world about this horror in order to honor the memory of those slain, including identifying one body as a friend’s son. Her insistence on his proper burial metaphorically blankets the entire pile.
Finally there are the bodies themselves; nameless, left without rhyme or reason, they become the multitudes of murdered innocents Colombia has endured through civil war and narco-terrorism. Moreno carefully plays with character perception though by coldly filming a mound of lifeless corpses on one hand, but also shifting the point of view to the living characters such that in certain moments they see these people as living, breathing, yet silent witnesses. The effect is subtle enough to match Luis Bunuel’s own effective surrealism.
Not only the characters but also the audience are never allowed to forget these were once living people whose souls are now overlooking fools frantically deciding how to dispose of their corpses. While the film’s deliberately slow pace may be problematic for some, it allows Moreno to craft a definite atmosphere through long, static takes punctuated by tracking shots and dolly work. The filmmaking style is never allowed to draw attention to itself, but rather keep full concentration on the story and characters. Thankfully the director does not resort to cheap theatrics or shock devices to inject energy into the plot; the already-tense atmosphere within the village itself as well as the murdered bodies engenders enough fear as to who will have to die in order to keep matters hushed.
In the end, a thriller elevates to social commentary without heavy-handedness or showboating. While I’m personally pleased at the film’s Cinematography award, there is far more than pretty pictures going on in this intriguing, almost Pinteresque drama.
To learn more, go to www.642films.com
