Madeinusa (2006)

In a remote Peruvian hamlet live two sisters, Madeinusa, and Chale. Every year, between Good Friday and Easter, the religiously fervent villagers believe that God is dead, and as such, they are free to do whatever they want. Incest, theft, even murder become the order of the day, and the girls' father, who also happens to be the mayor, presides over the festivities as a veritable ring leader. But things are different this year, because a gringo from Lima has arrived in town en route to a geological survey for a mining company. The townsfolk, not trusting of strangers, lock him up in a cell, but Made, having never been with a man outside of her father, falls for him, and soon enough things begin to spiral out of control. More than once has this film been described as a kind of Peruvian Wicker Man, but that description does not really accurately describe this film. Madeinusa is certainly quite bizarre and colorful, but it is less scary than it is intriguing. Director Claudia Llosa (the niece of Nobel-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa, and filmmaker Luis Llosa) brings a lot to her first directorial effort, and she certainly has her hand on the pulse of her subjects. But it does not quite work. One cannot help but feel that Llosa failed to truly bring her creation to life; there is a curious detachment, and a lack of intensity that one would expect from a film like this. It is as if she were reluctant to allow the viewer to approach the subject matter fully, and because of this reluctance, the film just does not work as well as it should.