Review by luks93

First things first: ignore the overall rating of the film as well as the 10/10 reviews. It obviously ain't worth all that. Most people must be taking emotional catharsis for film quality. Yes, it will make you cry, but, curiously, you won't see yourself so connected with the story or identified with the characters.

That has one main reason to be: misguided and mistaken story structure. Memo is an absolutely passive protagonist. He does nothing all along the two playing hours to prove his innocence and escape his fate. All obstacles to his freedom are put far away from him, there's no progression through them, and they are not overthrown through the protagonist's actions, they just build up and later are absolutely ignored by a solution that, although planted and partially developed, still tastes like deus ex machina. Ironically, though, a resource that, if used, should come to magically turn the tables towards a satisfying ending, here plays an opposite role, spoiling any meanings that, at a big cost, the viewer would have sewn together and imprinted to the loose characters and the weak cause-effect relations established here. Things just feel apart. We go from a tragic first act to a cheesy ending. The film misses a huge opportunity to state a clear emotional, political, social and phylosophical theme.

We cry a lot not because we're empathize with Memo, but because we pity him. And, in my opinion, that's a huge no-no, my lingo-lingo. The tears you drop will soon dry, as you'll soon forget this weak and shabby story.