The Beasts (2022)
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Film details
Thriller · Drama · Rodrigo Sorogoyen · 2h 18min
Synopsis
Antoine and Olga, a French couple, have been living in a small village in Galicia for a long time. They practice eco-responsible agriculture and restore abandoned houses to facilitate repopulation. Everything should be idyllic except for their opposition to a wind turbine project that creates a serious conflict with their neighbors. The tension will rise to the point of irreparability.
Verdict
Brutal thriller of harassment and rural violence. For mature adults only.
In-depth analysis
The Beasts builds a thriller of escalating tension about the clash between a French environmentalist couple and their Galician neighbors concerning a wind farm project. Director Rodrigo Sorogoyen masterfully unfolds a study of harassment as a strategy of social pressure: glances, rumors, minor sabotages that escalate towards physical violence. The film does not glorify brutality — it shows it as the inevitable consequence of a conflict no one wishes to resolve through dialogue. The problem for parents is not ideological but one of form: the intensity of the psychological harassment and the rawness of the final violence make it exclusively adult material. There is no extreme gore, but there is disturbing realism. The work raises legitimate dilemmas about rootedness, progress, and dignity without falling into Manichaeism — both sides are right and both are wrong. It is auteur cinema that respects the viewer's intelligence and avoids easy sentimentality. For adults with strong stomachs and the capacity to process violence as a symptom of a deeper social illness, it is a valuable experience. For minors or sensitive viewers, absolutely unadvised.