The Wasteland, which features a terrifying monster and presents a gripping psychological outlook and a more nuanced approach to the experience of childhood trauma and a stark reminder of how helpless we are over the circumstances of our lives is packed with a good number of surprises. More importantly, when it comes to the fight scene, a majority of the focus is on a child taking on a monster.
The Wasteland is a painstakingly slow burn that delivers the goods by the end with great emotional depth. The Wasteland further cements its place as one of more ambitious Netflix originals in recent times with a fantastic plot that comprise both slow burning psychodrama, and creature features.
We accompany young Diego (Asier Flores) who is trapped in the 19th-century Spanish wilderness with his loving parents, Salvator (Roberto Álamo) and Lucía (Inma Cuesta), but their idyllic lives are put under threat because of an unseen monster.
Rather, the primary aspect of the atmosphere which is emphasized in the film’s first acts is zoom-in towards gruesome death, which is stalked by mysterious characters at the start. So Souma narrates that nightmarish visions about dying mother provoke Diego to say goodbye to Diego and Lucia and go on a hunt for that widow but not until the father scares his little son with horrifying projection.
Salvator retells the horror of “the beast” or El Paramo as called in the working title of the movie. The creature is described as a monstrous, leathery head with no bones, whose height is very rough, possesses no eyes but is a very skilled hunter, in other words, terrific material to send off a child to slumber.
We soon come to find out that the beast is real and the audience must now come to ask themselves the same question did Salvator know this too? Or was the tale just an elaborate make-believe story from his side? Such presumptions also call for alarmingly dysfunctional parenting where Salvator either opts to abandon Diego and Lucia knowing that a supernatural beast is on the loose, or has a very twisted view of what is suitable for children (Has this man ever come across Dr Seuss?)
However, these sorts of small details are of course beside the point in The Wasteland’s self-proclaimed surrealistic universe. What matters is that Diego has learned to protect himself from the beast. But it is this precise fear which is in fact necessary to vanquish the demon. For legend has it that “the more you dread the beast, the more it draws you into its embrace.”
The Wasteland is an all-encompassing artwork which is much bigger than the sum of its constituent parts. How can a work of fiction expand such a sophisticated yarn with just three characters, a single piece of furniture, and the hint of a monster? With Diego well taken care of and astonishing chemistry between Cuesta and Flores, the latter most notably also stole the show for many people.
It has been pointed out that believable and likeable child protagonists are rather difficult to come by, so deciding to place an awful lot of emotional burden on a ten year old in The Wasteland was an enormous gamble. But while most would expect child actors to overdo everything, and lose any potential subtlety due to being cast as a child, Flores managed to encompass what can easily be described as one of the more sympathetic characters of the year, let alone for a child, and she is in fourth grade.
Of course the actor is not alone and there is an unofficial co-star, the beast himself. Nevertheless, the creature does not say much, does not have much screen time, and yet has an undeniable presence and heavy menace trembles in the grass.
There are also a few sequences that contain particularly close up images of numerous characters, where revealed glimpses of the monster can be seen. Unsurprisingly, the director consistently adheres to the classic Hollywood rule of “Do not show the monster” from the very beginning to almost the end of The Wasteland. (Although after it seems the audience does get a tiny blink of the monster, it does not last long)
And it has been the right choice. The fact that the monster has no face gives the impression of omnipresence.
Further, in the films, when telling audiences to imagine or project their most undesirable vision seeing the beast, the message placed at the background the destructive effects of unrecognized fear and the enviable strength to overcome one’s monsters is brought to the fore.
That is hardly the only instance of subtext. For instance, The Wasteland’s misplaced settings, absurd storyline, and vague conclusions are perfect for wild theories. It is not therefore surprising why every review or every recap has a completely different perspective of the film’s theme. The criticism is buried deep within the attenuation of the nuclear family’s collapse, references to religion, the possibility to relate to the nature of the COVID-19 infection are various appearances of many conjectures.
So The Wasteland what is it about and where does it sit in the world. Tied to the concept of imagery, it presents itself in acceleration with massive, mind-bending heart-stopping cinematography that every movie strives for but within the framework of the Netflix brand. But one thing this movie is not? Specifically, very, um, frightening.
“We’re definitely not making a horror film for horror fans only,” quoted David Casademunt last year in an interview with Variety.
“Here the goal is to attempt to create a film that has some universality, gravitas, that could even appeal people who would not normally watch a horror film- An emotionally driven horror that is capable of appealing to all sections of the population.”
With this surprisingly narrow minded take on the genre and its adherents, Casademunt may have unwittingly zoomed into the the Wasteland movie’s major flaw; the choice to play it safe rather than break new ground and also the refusal to appreciate just how horrendous horror as a concept can be.
After all, who says emotes and horror (feels n fears) have to be self exclusive? Or that that the audience only appreciates monsters ‘mere’ for blood spattering thick headed slaughters?
Whoever it was somehow never quite made it to Ari Aster, who 2018 film ‘horror film for horror fans’ Hereditary, was the one in charge of giving birth to the term ‘emotional terrorism.’
This horror movie showcased the trauma horror genre in a very unique manner. Merging love, grief and trauma into raw nightmares. And lastly, Hereditary actually focuses on feelings. Which is the most terrifying thing about it.
Indeed, you’re not likely to take trauma home after watching The Wasteland, regardless of how pleasant the experience itself may be. It is not a masterpiece by any means, but the film is certainly an improvement over the style of M.Night Shyamalan, so there’s that. Yet somehow, Wasteland ends up being less interesting than it could have been.
Let down by the soft focus of the actual horror coming out of Casademunt, horror purists had to instead rely on sadistic optimism that, perhaps in the future, he will direct a real “horror movie for horror viewers.”
For More Movies Visit Putlocker.