A Monster with a Thousand Heads

A Monster with a Thousand Heads grabs hold of you from the very first image. The screen is dark, we can just about make out some people on the right, where something is happening. Sonia’s husband is having a heart attack. She is willing to do anything to get him the treatment he needs before it’s too late. Anything. She and her son struggle through the cumbersome healthcare bureaucracy, leading to frustration and her breakdown. After a while Sonia has no other choice but to use violence, and in almost every situation she encounters, guns will have to be drawn. How far can she go in the name of justice, before everything falls apart?

A Monster with a Thousand Heads is part thriller, part courtroom drama without the courtroom being shown. Instead we hear the voices from witnesses, the prosecutor and the judge, which are played over the images as the action takes place. The film is a cold presentation of an intense situation, with an almost documentarian look that makes it all the more realistic. The film doesn’t necessarily ask us to sympathize with Sonia, but is a biting criticism of the Mexican health system, and is both entertaining and provocative. The perfect film for a dark autumn night.

Rodrigo Pio (born 1968) is from Uruguay, but grew up in Mexico City. He is perhaps best known for La Zona from 2007, which won the award for best debut feature at the Venice Film Festival, where A Monster with a Thousand Heads was screened last year. The Delay was Uruguay’s entry for the Oscars for Best Foreign Film in 2012.