A woman resorts to desperate measures when an insurance company refuses to help her terminally ill husband. She and her son attempt to fight the system, forcing the company employees to perform the corresponding procedure.
Plá, working from a spare yet jangly screenplay by Laura Santullo, steadily builds suspense, craftily calibrating subtle shifts in perspective that allow us to alternate, seamlessly, between impartial observers and, as it were, active participants.
From Villalba's apathetic attitude toward his patient to detestable insurance company policies... the film's gradual revelations make Sonia's actions justifiable -- almost.
While some of the plot points in this Mexican drama strain logic, there's an undeniable emotional truth to every step the woman takes; the icy, formal cinematography assists by accentuating her helplessness against a faceless bureaucracy.
A powerful and frantic portrait that Mexican cinema makes of a reality that could happen in many other countries of the world. [Full review in Spanish]
A film with great narrative and artistic solvency to suggest an oppressive atmosphere and maintain a fast pace of suspense in what is now openly a thriller with a social critic. [Full review in Spanish]
Quiet and contemplative instead of being noisy and all about action, A Monster With a Thousand Heads, based on a novel by Laura Santullo, slowly pulls viewers in to [Sonia's] plight.
