Monos Movie Review

The following is a movie review “Monos” by Marc Primo.

Release date: 13 September 2019 (USA)

Director: Alejandro Landes

Language: Spanish

Production companies: Stela Cine, Participant

Producers: Alejandro Andes, Fernando Epstein, Santiago Zapata, Cristina Landes

SPOILER ALERT: With the help of Netflix and other video streaming sites, it has become very easy and accessible for people to watch movies of different genres. However, with the trend comes the inevitable consequence of movies being released in cinemas suffering some form of drawback. Not the same can be said, though, for Colombian-Ecuadorian Director Alejandro Landes and his most recent film “Monos.”

The story is set somewhere in one of the remote mountaintops of Latin America where a group of commandos who call themselves Monos take refuge. The troop incessantly practice military training exercises while guarding their hostage, Doctora, and a seemingly odd cow named Shakira.

The Monos’ boss is very particular when ordering his subordinates to take very good care of Shakira because if something happens to her, then all hell will break loose and they will suffer the consequences.

The film gently turns sideways one night as the young subordinates end up killing the cow, immediately ripping it apart to partake of its meat. What audiences can appreciate here is how the kids use ingenious ways to go around the problem and have their way around it with much mischief as their only recourse. In this scene, Director Landes makes sure that whoever watches it would have an upset stomach from watching all the blood and gore in a scene that is supposedly motivated by innocence.

As the kids move through the treacherous mountain ranges and forest, they drag their hostage Doctora (portrayed by the marvelous Julianne Nicholson) along with them.

The director tries to convey that despite how these young adults seem strong and independent, the reality is just the opposite and more sinister as soon they show their vulnerability and frailty.

Naturally, the hostage tries to escape numerous times but each time a mono manages to catch up with her. What’s intriguing about the film’s premise is the motivation the Monos have in taking Doctora hostage. More importantly, why, despite not knowing the real reason behind the crime, the young members of the troop continue to hold her against her will.

As the movie draws to an end, we are given a shot of some of the teens standing over the corpses of the adults they have killed, surrounded by the (still alive and breathing) terrified children they have left behind; a grim representation of what could not be denied as the ultra violence we don’t get to see in real life, but is a daily occurrence in some parts of the world.

The film seems to want to address relevant social issues with the title, for starters, open to numerous interpretations when translated to different languages (“monkey” being one of them). But Monos gives us a better look at how child soldiering is a real world problem today and how militias can corrupt and take away a child’s innocence with one slash of a blade.

Indeed, Monos creates an ominous vibe for audiences from its expert technical elements and camera work. From the musical scoring to the disturbing images that highlight Landes’ visions, it truly presents a modern-day reality that’s just too unsettling to disregard.

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