Witch hunt - Newspaper Kommersant No. 21 (7466) of 02/06/2023

Witch hunt - Newspaper Kommersant No. 21 (7466) of 02/06/2023


The horror film by Mexican director Isaac Esban "Witch: Reincarnation" (Mal de Ojo) was released. This scary tale, thickly mixed with folklore, turned out to be that rare horror that really managed to scare Julia Shagelman.

The Russian distribution title, as often happens, takes away all originality from the picture, trying to at least formally tie it to the more famous Hollywood horror films. Yes, there is both The Witch (2015) and Reincarnation (2018), both made by hip young horror makers Robert Eggers and Ari Astaire, respectively. But the Mexican work, which in the original is called The Evil Eye, has nothing to do with them, except perhaps for the general motive that the most terrible and dangerous creatures in this world are an ordinary female. The tape is not exactly striking in the freshness of ideas - we have already seen all this somewhere, and maybe heard it back in childhood, when in a whistling whisper we told each other horror stories about a black hand, a red sheet and death, which is already approaching the street where a little girl lives. But in the performance of Isaac Esban and his co-authors, the rehashing of familiar motives completely makes you, if not hide under the covers with your head, then at least shiver.

It all starts, as expected, with an old village fairy tale. Once upon a time there were triplets, and one of them was seriously ill. Then the other two came to the sorceress (Claudia Garcia) who lives next door and asked for help. She agreed to cure their sister, but the payment she asked for, of course, was exorbitant. However, we will find out the end of this story later, but for now the action is transferred to a modern city apartment, where 13-year-old Nala (Paola Miguel) lives with her parents and younger sister Luna (Ivanna Sofia Ferro). The happiness of this family is poisoned by the fact that Luna is seriously ill and no treatment helps her. Then the girls' mother Rebecca (Samantha Castillo) decides to resort to traditional medicine and go with them to the wilderness, where their grandmother Josefa (Mexican film and television legend Ofelia Medina) lives. Nala, of course, does not want to go: she has already entered the age of teenage whims, and besides, her relationship with her parents, especially her mother, is strained due to the fact that they pay much more attention to her sick sister. But at 13, no one will listen to what you want and what you don't, so you have to obey.

Grandma's house lives up to the worst expectations. This is a shabby mansion, located on the outskirts in the middle of the forest, clearly knowing better times. There is, of course, no Wi-Fi here, and the usual cellular connection barely breaks through, so Nala has to forget about social networks. The swimming pool, promised as a solace, is covered with a tarpaulin - it was last cleaned at least half a century ago. And the grandmother herself turns out to be a real embodiment of the image of an evil old woman from fairy tales: she communicates with Rebecca exclusively with caustic reproaches, calls Nala from the threshold “sissy” and forbids her everything. In addition, the next day, the parents allegedly leave to agree on the treatment of the Moon, leaving the eldest daughter to look after her sister and endure grandmother's tyranny.

True, at first Nala manages to find support from the housekeeper Abigail (Paloma Alvamar). It is she who tells the girls a fairy tale about triplets, in which a fantastic baka creature appears, granting wishes in exchange for terrible sacrifices, witches who drink the blood of small children and at night shed their skin, which they hide in hollowed-out pumpkins, and other picturesquely bloody details. The authors of the film do not turn to Mexican folklore, but to the legends of the Caribbean, illustrating them on the screen, perhaps a little naive (special effects are made in the old fashioned way by hand), but still impressive images. It is not surprising that Nala begins to have nightmares with her grandmother in the title role, and soon she is firmly convinced that the old woman is a real witch who drinks the blood of the weakening Moon before her eyes.

The supernatural world of the picture is completely female, men in it play the role of extras or victims who do not understand anything. Blood magic is passed from one generation of women to another, and the worst thing about it is how the elders literally seize the lives of the young in order to prolong their own, which, of course, also occurs in real families where no one uses voodoo rituals. Young Nala is trying to break out of this vicious circle, but she has to learn her first bitter lesson of growing up: even with the closest people you can not always feel safe.



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