If you liked The Hunt (2020) or Wind River , this is your next obsession.
However, it is Luis Zahera as Xan who steals the show. Zahera crafts one of the most terrifying cinematic villains in recent memory, not because he is a genius criminal, but because he is so pathetically human. Xan is foul-mouthed, alcoholic, and deeply insecure. His aggression is born of impotence and fear. Zahera finds the humanity in as bestas rodrigo sorogoyen
The film introduces us to Antoine (Denis Ménochet) and Olga (Marina Foïs), a French couple in their fifties who have left their old lives behind to settle in a remote, dilapidated village in the mountains of Galicia, Spain. Their goal is bucolic and idealistic: to restore a ruined house, cultivate an organic vegetable garden, and live in harmony with nature. If you liked The Hunt (2020) or Wind
The camera often lingers on the texture of the earth—the mud, the rotting wood, the overgrown foliage. This is not the romanticized Spain of tourist brochures; it is a harsh, rural reality where nature is indifferent to human suffering. The 1.33:1 aspect ratio (a nearly square frame) adds to this claustrophobia. By cutting off the breadth of the landscape, Sorogoyen forces the viewer to focus on the characters' faces and the immediate, crumbling environment around them. There is nowhere to look away, no escape from the tension that builds in the heavy, silent stares between Antoine and the brothers. Xan is foul-mouthed, alcoholic, and deeply insecure
The tension escalates when they oppose a wind farm project that would have provided a financial "escape" for the impoverished locals. This disagreement triggers a brutal, slow-burn conflict with their neighbors, specifically the brothers Xan (Luis Zahera) and Lorenzo (Diego Anido).
Sorogoyen refuses to make this a simple tale of good versus evil. While the brothers’ actions are abhorrent, the film provides context for their resentment. The wind farm subplot is crucial here. Antoine refuses to sign, citing the visual pollution of the turbines, a decision that costs the brothers a windfall. From the brothers' perspective, this is an act of elitist selfishness—a man with money denying them their only chance at financial freedom. This moral ambiguity is the film’s engine; it forces the audience to grapple with the uncomfortable reality that while the brothers are the aggressors, the protagonist’s moral high ground is not entirely stable.