Sanctorum

A remote village in Mexico, caught between the fronts of the ongoing drug war and threatening military operations. Here, the indigenous population is forced to grow marijuana for the cartels in order to survive. Meanwhile, government aid is nowhere to be found. In the midst of this hopeless situation, the mother of a little boy disappears. Desperate, he flees into the forest and asks the nature gods for her return... In his story, director Joshua Gil combines realistic depictions of poverty and violence with mystical elements. The fusion of pagan beliefs as a return to nature with biblical motifs is particularly striking in the film. The line between reality and myth begins to blur as the film visually impressively shows the destructive consequences of the drug war and asks whether nature itself must intervene to stop humanity. "Gil’s Master’s degree in Cinematography is evident in his attempt at following breathtaking and contemplative color palettes that enhances the mood that engulfs the movie. The stunning sound effects which includes minimum background music, the clear sounding shots of gunfire, the rustling of leaves, the grumbling of the sky accompanied by the seemingly unrehearsed sound of the trumpet and the ominous voice-over, crafted by Sergio Diaz [...] further lends weight to its uncanny quality." (Mukulika Batabyal, auf: highonfilms.com)