Fantastic Fest 2010 Review: ‘WE ARE WHAT WE ARE’

Cannibalism has often been used as a exploitative device in genre film.  Thanks to Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lector is not only the most infamous cinematic cannibal but the film also brought a serious dramatic film to what looked like a B-movie on paper.  The same can be said for Jorge Michel Grau‘s filmWe Are What We Are. The unusual condition of cannibalism lingers in the background of, what is really, this coming of age drama.

Trailer courtesy of Empire Online

The film begins with a man desperately trying to find help.  We don’t know what is wrong with him and it really doesn’t matter.  What unfolds in the beginning is practically a commentary on modern society and how people cannot be bothered by someone else’s despair.  What it also does is lean you to a sympathetic state as a viewer even if the reason is unknown at the time being.  We later find out that the man’s family which consists of his wife and two teenage boys and a teenage daughter.  Quickly, you know that something isn’t right.  The house that is inhabited by the family is dilapidated and not a stable environment for the teenagers.  You learn that the family was very dependent on their father and then it hits…the family are cannibals.  Their father would hunt their food and bring it home so they can survive.

With the sudden absense of the hunter, the family is in a state of shock and dismay as the teens, and the wife for that matter, really didn’t know the father’s techniques on how the food was acquired.  What were his techniques?  Where did he go?  The family is forced into acting quickly so they do not starve and among the two boys, one needs to take over.  The question is, who has the guts?

We Are What We Are has a slight satrical sense to the film when it deals with some of the social missteps of the teens trying to find their victims/food for the family, but most of the film is played pretty straight.  One could say that We Are What We Are is a pretty straight forward film.  Unfortunately, when you have a film like this, it is important that your acting troupe is strong and needs to present these characters sympathetically in order for the film not to feel too silly.  Grau pulls this off in most of the sequences it is needed.  However, the film seems to move too quickly with its story and doesn’t really focus on what is needed for these characters to be sympathetic enough to the audience.  There is a point in the film where it begins to do this, but then Grau’s choice is to get the characters moving and outside of the house.

There are scenes in the film that, ironically enough, reminded me of the other Fantastic Fest entry Let Me In with the father-like character and his nights of fleeting capture.  The “hunt” scenes are sloppy, just like they should be.  Murder is not neat and clean for most.  There are missteps and Grau definitely doesn’t ignore this in the story – which helps build some suspense in what could be a very boring film.

The one thing that I didn’t feel that worked in the film was the side story about the cops as they seem to feel like filler for the story and/or as a guide for the audience to follow what is happening.  The story is pretty smart with the exception for this subplot.  The two detectives trying to find out why the victims are disappearing seems very useless because so much time is spent on the family and their journey.

While We Are What We Are has missteps, it is a beautifully shot film that I think people, including horror fans, will enjoy and is techinically done in such a manner that I believe the film should be seen.