Monos - Un gioco da ragazzi

I see people saying you need to know about the Colombian context in order to truly understand this film. Maybe that is true to an extent, but the director deliberately removes any context that would tell you about the situation. That is for a reason. Because context is removed, you don't know who the characters are fighting for or why they're fighting. You can't say whether they are on the 'good' or 'evil' side, if there even is one at all.

From the get-go the film immerses you into their lives forcefully and vividly. You don't need to know what the wider context or motive is to understand the very human drama. What I see is children making decisions based on a range of factors: fear, power, pride. But I also see children who are missing vital components of a human's existence because of the war that forces them to think like robots at times. Paradoxically, they also have the freedom and lack of authority to let them run riot at times, manifesting in wild, irrational decisions and bizarre, disturbing rituals. This unnatural state of being, war plus lack of social structure, is the cause. Yet you do get glimpses of their youth being expressed in more innocent ways, that remind you that there is still some humanity buried in there.

I like that despite the situations the characters are in, Monos isn't bothered with making you pity them. It's interested in things other than that well-worn trope. It doesn't try to make you hate them either. Rather, it shows how they can do evil things, irrational things, and occasionally, good things. But ultimately, child or adult, war makes demons of us all.

Another thing that really hooked me into this film is the cinematography, which is at times beautiful but is foremost fixed on expressing the characters' emotions. During crazy ritualistic behaviour, it becomes frenzied. As the group becomes increasingly disjointed, the camera is increasingly disorienting too.

Hallucinatory plunge into the depths of the human soul certainly won't be for everyone. However, if you have the nerves its a dark, unsettling exhilaratingly wild and ultimately rewarding ride.

I agree with other reviewers about comparisons to Aguirre Wrath of God, Deliverance, Apocalypse Now, Southern Comfort as well as child soldier films such as Johnny Mad Dog or Come and See. However, Monos also bears comparison with two much older films. The first being Figures in a Landscape (Joseph Losey, 1970). This starred Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell as two men on the run in a bleak landscape, possibly Europe, possibly the Americas somewhere, evading soldiers, a menacing black helicopter and, on occasion, raiding villages for supplies. The second is 1985's The Emerald Forest, (John Boorman) set in the South American rain forest and exploring environmental themes through the story of a lost child. Both films address existentialist questions and lost children respectively, themes which abound in Monos, whose children are metaphorically if not at times literally also lost.

Monos is the superior film to Figures by virtue of a firmer commitment to ambiguity. Neither film indicates where, or indeed when, it's taking place. Neither film gives back story to the characters. Whereas dialogue is sparing in Monos, in Figures there's speech throughout, with both men holding forth their philosophies on life and especially women. This jars somewhat with the otherwise Kafkaesque feel and results in a film which, rather than being one of the great classic cult movies of the seventies, such as Deliverance, is more of a curious period piece, it's excessive acting and attempts at profundity over reaching and rendering it somewhat dated.

It's too long since I saw The Emerald Forest to be able to properly compare it, suffice to say I'll shortly be returning to it, assuming I can get hold of it. At the time of writing Figures was uploaded on to youtube.

The lack of a clear narrative arc and the use of multiple protagonists means that MONOS will frustrate some viewers. The film expresses ideas and notions rather than 'working through' a problem or presenting the viewer with a moral - the lack of any clear moral sense will further unsettle those who're accustomed to the conventions of narrative film.

The militia unit of eight teenagers is presumably modelled on cults / guerrilla organisations like Peru's Shining Path or Colombia's FARC. While ostensibly about child soldiers and the cynical way in which youthful idealism (and naivety) is taken advantage of and exploited by those older, ultimately MONOS is about the human condition and essentially the human animal alone in an indifferent universe. The title Monos can be read as an ironic comment - Spanish for 'monkey' in that we humans are in fact nothing more than relatively sophisticated primates.

Several themes are explored. How to live our lives, how to adjust to, negotiate the compromises the individual needs to make in order to secure the safety and advantages from the group. The consequences of the individual abnegating responsibility and prioritising transient pleasures over longer term prosperity.

The group of teenagers can be seen as a microcosm of the human race - given a cow to look after, their negligence leads to its death. The cow can be seen as allegorical of the earth which, like the cow in the film, provides for us. We're likewise custodians failing to care for, nurture and secure the earth for future generations.

There's little sense of the kids working together in a cohesive manner. Authority and order are remote, at the end of a radio. Those of a religious faith would acknowledge that any God, if we accept God's existence, has allowed humanity to get on with things by itself. My reading of the film is that we are indeed alone, in an indifferent universe, with only ourselves. God is as remote as whoever is at the end of the radio. If a saviour exists, it's in the form of Messenger (played by former FARC member Wilson Salazar), the commander who arrives intermittently. There's another analogy here with this character as a possible saviour figure and I won't reveal spoilers because my purpose is here to tell you Why You Should Watch This Film.

Camera work and different locations are really effective in conveying meaning, moving from agoraphobia on the mountain top to claustrophobia in the jungle and river scenes. Close in camera work, honing in on the characters faces conveys their bewilderment and there's an incredible visceral quality. As Messenger pushes them through their paces, the sheer futility of human existence expressed as they run on the spot, going nowhere, their feet pounding in the mud or in the water. We are animals, monkeys, of the earth and no amount of thought, ideology will change that.

The cast of largely non professionals turn in totally convincing performances all the more real for being informed by lived experiences. Apparently the director of the film invited teenagers from all over Colombia and, having narrowed down the applicants, put them through an actual military style 'boot camp.' The uncertainties and anxieties of adolescence are consistently conveyed by the young cast through facial expression, body language and movement. As is the impetuousness of that age, the compulsion and the craziness. Tension sustains, this is an edge of your seat film because we simply don't know where these kids are going or what they're planning, or going, to do.

Another way this movie triumphs is through use of sound and the incidental music, which reinforces the interior worlds of the characters. The score by composer Mica Levi is superb. I'm not a fan of music in films, however in this case less in the form of beautiful yet unsettling electronica is most definitely more hence all the more effective. The sound scape in the jungle scenes is also masterful aural sculpture, building, sustaining a sense of quiet unease, claustrophobia and a feeling of dread through the sounds of the forest.

Be warned. This certainly isn't for everyone. See it if...You like your action movies philosophical, leaving plenty of room for thought, speculation, interpretation. You can manage the dread, anxiety, apprehension you'll likely feel. A vertiginous plunge into the darkest recesses of the human condition. Just be sure to see it on the biggest screen with the loudest speakers that you can.

Beautiful landscape. Strange storyline. Great soundtrack. Not everyone's cup of tea.

Bizarre story about a jungle commando in South America. Most of the actors are kids. Many resemblances with Apocalypse now.

A bit slow at times and confusing as to where the plot is headed but overall it's mix between Lord of the flies meets red dawn. Sort of a solid 7 as far as characters, storyline and production.

Wow - I tend to like bleak films. But this film didn't seem to provide any solace from the bleak. Or any answers for that matter. Beautifully shot. Great acting. But did I enjoy it or endure it? I'm really not sure - but I'm pretty sure it will stick with me for a while. I've given it a 7 for now but that could easily be a 3 or a 9 - it's one of those marmite films and I haven't a clue right now which side of the salty yeasty spread I'm on...... Erm - it's a must watch!