Review – Undertow

Undertow, a film by Juan Fuentes-León, was premiered in the UK at this years Edinburgh International Film Festival, it has already done the round of the last years film festivals, winning the World Cinema Audience Award at Sundance as well as opening Newfest in New York.

Undertow (Contracorriente), Juan Fuentes-León’s debut feature, provided my personal highlight of this year’s 64th Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film provides a heartfelt exploration of a small Peruvian fishing village, detailing its reaction to rumours that upstanding, father-to-be, Miguel (Cristian Mercado) is having an affair with the local outcast, Santiago (Manolo Cardona). The touching and realistic portrayal of a tender but complicated romance is juxtaposed with serious social conflicts and an artfully achieved ghost-story element, which makes for an interesting and believable tale.

The film opens with the funeral of Miguel’s uncle, who is being laid to rest, in the village tradition, by being blessed and then thrown into the sea. The small community believes that a soul will not rest unless a member of the community who is pure and pious delivers the blessing alongside the priest, and in this case the family choose Miguel. In the course of the film though, Miguel abandons this position in the community as he enters into a secret affair with Santiago; a dangerous move in such a deeply religious and family orientated community.

The villagers’ treatment of Santiago exposes inherent prejudices in this tight-knit community: his appearance causes palpable fear amongst the men, as if his mere presence will throw suspicion upon their masculinity. This uncomfortable truth becomes painfully apparent when he valiantly tries to buy a beer for Miguel’s cousin after the funeral. The gesture is flatly rejected and results in name-calling and a tense moment until Miguel steps in to diffuse the situation. The treatment of Santiago reveals deep rooted prejudices and a fear of outsiders. As a new resident of the village Santiago is a ‘gringo’ to them; as a photographer his livelihood is insulting to the labouring fishermen; and as a homosexual, he goes against everything they hold dear, their church and their families.

The secret romance between Miguel and Santiago acts as an uplifting element to the stagnant and repressive village atmosphere. The scenes between them are truly beautiful and their attempt to ignore their situation and simply appreciate one another and their beautiful surroundings is as charming as it is naïve. Inevitably, the village begins to invade their idyllic bubble though, and Santiago’s surprise gift of a camera to Miguel proves a catalyst to their discovery.

Miguel’s wife, Mariela (Tatiana Astengo), along with the rest of the community, begins to uncover the truth. However, the community’s suspicions lead them to slight, not only Miguel and Santiago, but also Mariela; she is widely respected and her pregnancy is highly anticipated, but it becomes clear, as rumours about Miguel’s homosexuality surface, that this reverence is conditional upon her husband’s reputation. She is consequently isolated from her husband and her community. Their treatment of Mariela is revealing; this community has a rigid attitude to morality and behaviour, even when their response leads to actions far more shocking than those they condemn.

Miguel tries gallantly to keep his wife’s suspicions at bay, but his efforts are thwarted by Santiago’s cavalier attitude and attempts at friendship with Mariela. Another proffered gift, this time for the unborn child, pushes Miguel over the edge, and he angrily confronts Santiago, leading to the inevitable ultimatum; Miguel must choose between Santiago, and his wife and community. Before Miguel can make a decision though, Santiago goes missing. The village is stalwart in its continued rejection of Miguel and events begin to take a sinister turn. The more shocking later events of the film allow for the ghost-story element to come in, as Miguel’s struggle begins to transcend various divides.

The heart-felt and emotionally charged performances of both Cristian Mercado (Miguel) and Manolo Cardona (Santiago) makes this a truly superb romance, with Tatiana Astengo (Mariela) providing a strong supporting performance. It is her character that offers the best window onto the close-knit community. Undertow manages to cleverly portray a community steeped in religion, but makes it the background to the film rather than its focus. This provides a welcome relief from many filmmakers and artists who fall for a populist diatribe against religion’s grip over small communities such as this. It is this subtlety in the film that allows for Fuentes-León’s nimble leap-frogging of the moral questions of the film: Miguel’s infidelity to his pregnant wife; the backward attitude of the villagers to homosexuality and the religion that pervades the characters’ everyday lives. Instead he focuses primarily on the gentle but complicated love between the two men.

Whilst the gay-romance-ghost story genre may not make it firmly into our film lexicon any time soon, and despite the plot not sounding like everyone’s cup of tea, the timeless theme of love against the odds makes this an interesting and engaging film for even the most sceptic of film-goers.

Orla Murray