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Resurrection (2015)
Country of Origin: Argentina
Tagline: El diablo siempre regresa/ The Devil will always find a way
Resurrection is one of the latest films within the emerging horror productions in Argentina. It's an unexpected, refreshing turn into classic movie ambience. The film lends itself more to gothic horror than scare tactics.
Set towards the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Resurrection deals with the story of a young priest (Aparicio) traveling to Buenos Aires, to lend a helping hand to those afflicted by the outbreak of a yellow fever epidemic in 1871. The newly minted man of faith decides to stop halfway in his journey to visit his homestead, discovering that the plague has not only visited the capital, but it's quickly spreading through the countryside.
To his horror, his brother's family has fallen ill and both his sister in law and young niece remedios are quartered within the hacienda's chapel, prisoners of fear while Ernesto, the family's lifelong butler takes care of them... or is he?
As in all gothic stories, setting in an integral part of the narrative. The hacienda, called "Paraiso" might have been a "paradise" in better times. However, as Aparicio walks into his house, the veil is lifted. His childhood home has become oppressive and dark, there is a potent sense of decay that goes beyond the facade. Much as if the house was also infected by a spiritual malady.
You might be asking yourself why the house itself looks torn and that brings us to examine the background of the story, one real life horror that is as chilling as any story conjured from dark imaginings.
The yellow fever plague of 1871 comes stepping on the heels of the Paraguayan war. Back in the late 1860's, while the United States was involved in civil war, the Southern cone of America was also waging its own. Known as the war of the Triple Alliance, this war saw Argentina, Paraguay, the then Empire of Brazil and Uruguay involved in a six year conflict that lead to the decimation of Paraguay by 60% of its population (keep this in mind, it will come in handy later.)
There's a subtle current of horror in this movie that is not paranormal, but quite human. You can hear it here and there, in snippets of conversations between Aparicio and Ernesto... , Something along the lines of: They say the plague was brought about by immigrants and the displaced... It's all their fault, their foreign ways have brought upon us the wrath of God.
Paranoia and xenophobia play a big role in this movie, as even elements that are familiar to Aparicio become tainted by suspicion and fear. In the beginning of the movie, the young priest is relieved to see that Ernesto, a man he has known his own life, seems untouched by malady. As the action advances, that relief turns to mistrust. As an audience, you'll see a chasm grow between both men, made evident when Aparicio starts calling Ernesto by the name "Quispe". Ernesto is a mestizo, part native, part white, who was taken into the house as a child servant and given a "suitable" name. As the story progresses, years of trust and love are trumped by an undercurrent of racial tension.
At this point, when at a human level things can get no worse, we are hit with the paranormal element of the story.
Aparicio is seeing his family being decimated. First, his brother dies, while his sister in law and the small child in her care are closer to the edge of madness. Isolation has made a number on all, specially on little Remedios, who is starting to resent all, even her mother. The desperate need of a child to come to grips with her new environment and her understandable fear of death are crucial to the story, it is heart wrenching to watch.
In comes a shaman, a medicine man knowledgeable in guarani (Paraguayan native) magic, peddling a cure.
Remember what we told you about the war? The stakes run high. Can they trust this man? Is he a savior, or perhaps an agent of vengeance ready to claim their blood as a small payment for so many dead amongst his own? Is he even human? At this point in the movie is hard to decipher what is the product of a feverish mind. One thing is for sure, after suffering a contagion of his own, Aparicio is willing to risk it all, even his soul, for a cure.
I won't spoil it, but even if there's no hope of redemption, good and evil will face off in a place called "Paradise."
Go watch it, the reveal alone is worth it!
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