Oculto – The Hidden (2005)

Directed by: Antonio Hernandez | 125 minutes | drama | Actors: Laia Marull, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Angie Cepeda, Gerardo Malla, Joaquín Climent, Geraldine Chaplin, Emma Cohen, William Miller, Marta Aledo, Marta Belenguer, Israel Elejalde, Xavier Murua, Gary Piquer, Jennifer Rope, Sergio Sánchez, Penélope Velasco

Natalia has strange dreams. At a conference attended by a dream expert and a number of interested parties, she tells how every time a monolith appears, straight from Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. Each time an image is displayed on the monolith. It turns out it has a predictive function. A rose marked her future employer, and a two-digit symbol issued a warning of a plane crash. Nathalie is initially skeptical about any meaning, but when she begins to fixate herself more and more on her dreams, she becomes more and more drawn into them. This worsens when Beatriz, also present at the conference, appears in her life. She recognizes things from Natalia’s dreams and even turns out to have a tattoo with the exact same image from one of the dreams. Meanwhile, Alex comes on the scene, he wants to write an article on the subject and he also gets more and more involved in the dreams. Are there bizarre coincidences or is there perhaps much more at stake? It could be interesting data for an exciting film, but unfortunately ‘Oculto’ disappoints somewhat. Where the film starts as a mysterious film, with ominous dreams as its stake, the film develops into a real drama, in which the focus quickly shifts to other matters than dreams. A number of plot points are exposed too early, so that the mystique, and the tension that this entails, is quickly lost.

However, ‘Oculto’ is not a bad film. The acting is very solid and the characters of Natalia and Beatriz develop convincingly. The beautiful, spontaneous and open-hearted Natalia is an effective contrast to the more closed and quiet Beatriz, where things are visibly happening behind her eyes. It is a pity that Alex turns out to be such a static pawn within the various developments. The full weight of the drama thus falls on the shoulders of both ladies and that turns out to be just a bit too much.

The real drama is too ambitious. Because the director continues to bet on a somewhat unusual mix of mystery, thriller, drama and even a single hint of horror, none of the elements are convincing. The love triangle that develops between the three main characters is not fully fleshed out and the mystery that should result in the dreams is also not really shocking. In addition, in addition to the main storylines, there are also a few things that add so little that you can wonder why they are being told. Director Antonio Hernández wants too much. And that’s a shame, because in ‘Oculto’ a fine cast and a convincing decoration of beautiful images and atmospheric music are lost. If in ‘Oculto’ one direction had been more unambiguously chosen, there might have been more residents. A missed opportunity.