Monos
**Seen at the 2019 Atlanta Film Festival.**
There are fascinating pieces in place in Alejandro Landes’s “Monos” that I have spent my time since watching the movie considering how much they, in fact, work together. I’m still not entirely sure if I know the answer to that, exactly, but it’s time to lay those thoughts down.
We begin on an isolated hillside, where eight child soldiers are being briefed about their mission by a commander; they are aiding in a war in their country, but they’ve been given tasks that you would give people you want to just hide away from the larger conflict. Their responsibilities are simple- to take care of a doctor (Julianne Nicholson) being held hostage, and to watch over a milking cow, provided by someone aiding the cause. We meet the soldiers in the company, and come to understand the personal dynamics between them. Gradually, we see dissension in the ranks that will lead to chaos, and a breaking of the unit, putting everyone at risk.
For much of the film’s runtime, I almost questioned whether these soldiers were actually part of a larger war being waged in their (unidentified) country- this feels like it could be the setup for a situation where someone is either lying to these teens, or using them while making them feel more important than they really are. That still might very well be the case, but the bullets they have in their guns, and the equipment they have been given, is very real, and we see them making ransom videos for their hostage. The ambiguity of the larger world around them- which isn’t really defined until the end- is part of why “Monos” has been so difficult to get a grasp of for me, and how I think about it. That being said, I like the ambiguity with which Landes builds this world, because, by not setting it in a specific time or place, the film will never date in the same way another film would. That doesn’t make the film resonate any more emotionally that it does, however.
The vibe Landes is going for in “Monos” boils down to “Lord of the Flies” meets “Apocalypse Now,” and that’s a very lofty goal that his characters are certainly compelling enough to try and accomplish. He writes these characters honestly, and they captivate us almost as much as the stunning images he puts on camera with his cinematographer, Jasper Wolf. We become engaged in the battles these characters not only wage between each other, but within themselves, and it’s difficult to look away from, even if we don’t make the larger connections Landes wants us to. This is a challenging film in a lot of ways, and a simple film in others. Regardless, I don’t know that you will forget having watched it. I know that I have not.
