La region salvaje (2016)

Directed by: Amat Escalante | 100 minutes | drama | Actors: Kenny Johnston, Simone Bucio, Fernando Corona, Jesus Meza, Ruth Ramos, Eden Villavicencio

As a film interpreter you must always guard against pigeonholing, while the future viewer also needs some guidance. Is ‘La región salvage’ typical Mexican cinema? Can the film be categorized as science fiction or as a sex drama? Anyone who describes many films knows that the answers often come easier than the questions, as in life itself. And experience teaches us to postpone or even omit judgments as much as possible. We think this is a good starting point, if a female protagonist is already satisfied by an octopus-like tentacle in an opening scene.

Enjoy the intriguing images and ask questions, but don’t ask for answers is the motto. This Veronica (Simone Bucio) is being held somewhere in the wilderness and then we see her fleeing on a cross moped, with a wound that would have been made by a dog. Experienced viewers know that in such cases a dream or fantasy is being portrayed, of the character in question or the filmmaker, but an answer to that question is essentially unnecessary. The film develops further as a relationship drama, with violence as the theme. During her treatment, Veronica meets gay nurse Fabian (Eden Villavicencio), who has a secret sex relationship with his brother-in-law Angel (Jezús Meza), whose wife Ale (Ruth Ramos) is unsatisfied in her marriage. Sex is extensively portrayed – realistically, but without visible genitalia; the ‘tentacle’ is an appealing metaphor for female sexuality.

Veronica and Ale seem like mirror characters, respectively an independent loner who explores her sexual desires and a married woman who is stuck with what life offers her. They meet and become friends. The same could be said of Angel and Fabian. The richness of the thematic interweaving, the cinematography and the acting performances of Bucio and Ramos in particular, make this film enjoyable in itself. Linking characters, fantasies and film genres makes ‘La región salvage’ (‘Untamed’) a good film, although Escalante goes too far in interpreting the idea that everyone involved is a victim of a violent nature. Man, if we may be so free, also has a will of his own. The acceptance of the message that imagination is the key to a happier life is then up to the viewer, and this reviewer will not stand in his or her way. This savory Mexican bite offers plenty of starting points.