Heroic

Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

"Heroic" is a story about Luis, an 18-year-old boy with Indigenous roots, enters the Heroic Military College in hopes of ensuring a better future. There, he encounters a rigid and institutionally violent system designed to turn him into a perfect soldier. This is director David Zonana's second feature film as his previous film "Workforce" was decent. Here, this is an improvement from his previous film.

"Heroic" offers a tough narrative about the extreme sides of Mexican's military system and some of the dangers that young soldiers would experience in the field. Beautiful camerawork, great tension filled soundtrack and performances from the cast members were selling points throughout. Many of the performances were excellent and the characters were interesting to observe.

The film isn't very easy to watch for some people as there are some brutal moments that were uncomfortable or chilling to witness. The style and themes explored remind me of films created from Michel Franco.

Overall, it was one of the good films I have seen at Sundance and I do look forward what Zonana offers next.

Rating: A-