This was an excellent, new film from Spain. A tremendous sense of suspense and puzzlement was masterfully maintained throughout the length of the film which told of a boy and his mother, living in isolation in war-torn 19th C Spain. The father was a part of the story for the first third or so of the film but for the majority of the time, this was just a two-hander with a monster from outside gradually approaching and threatening the two central characters. However, the exact nature of this monster was never revealed – was there anything physical there, was it somehow brought to life by one or both of the characters, did everything actually take place in their minds? By the end, nothing was made absolute – although the last option was, I think, the most likely one. It was also a psychological drama about growing up and, for the boy, having to come to terms with the harsh realities of life (and death) and confront them and not being able to live in a comfortable bubble of protection. This was very well suggested in the first part of the film by his intense relationship with his imaginative and story-spinning mother, as opposed to the harsher approach of his father who wanted to make him aware of some of the necessary harsh realities of life, well suggested by the scenes where he was asked to kill a rabbit for food that the boy regarded as a pet. This was very effectively used as a symbol throughout the film to show how he did, finally, have to grow up and mature and accept the darker necessities of life that he had to confront himself and on his own.
The boy’s performance was superb throughout and he showed his growing maturity very skillfully. An excellent film.