Anomaly Film Festival Coverage
Rita review
A bleak yet fantastical take on real world horrors.
Festival review will not contain spoilers.
Rita
Directed by Jayro Bustamante
Written by Jayro Bustamante
Starring Giuliana Santa Cruz, Angela Quevedo, Alejandra Vasquez, Isabel Aldana, Glendy Rucal and Ernesto Molina Samperio
Rita Review
The last afternoon of this year’s Anomaly Film Festival was home to the upcoming Shudder release Rita. It was preceded, as all the feature films are, by a short film. In this case, French film Coléoptère from director Martin Gouzou. The short deals with a building’s caretaker who tries to be helpful while dealing with a rather unique personal issue. He is mutating into a monster. The short’s dark tone and theme proved to be a fine match for what the Guatemalan feature Rita had in store.
Let’s get right down to it. Rita is a dark movie. It tells the story of abuse suffered by young girls in a state-run facility for troubled youths. Even worse…it’s based on a true story. Writer/director Jayro Bustamante tells the story as a dark fairy tale. It’s an earnest attempt to make a tragic story feel more palatable while maintaining the darkness (and importance) that comes with it. The usage of fantasy elements is very grounded. Don’t expect people casting magic spells and riding dragons into a better world. The way Rita does it allows the story’s realism to resonate through.
In that way, the fairy tale elements carry their own tragic weight. This is the story of abused children finding the strength to survive and cope with a terrible reality. We see their story through the eyes of Rita (Giuliana Santa Cruz), a 13-year-old girl who escapes one nightmare only to find herself in another. The girls in the facility believe that an angel will come and save them from their Hell. They come to believe that Rita is that angel.
Rita is placed with a group of girls who dress as angels…complete with wings. It’s one of several fantasy inspired groups inside of the orphanage. There are bunnies and fairies and, most importantly, a desire to break the chain of abuse they are all caught in. While Rita doesn’t think much of her placement as an angel to begin with…she inevitably becomes a part of plans to protest their abusers and ultimately escape the facility.
If you know the real-life event…you’ll understand that there is no number of angel wings and bunny ears that will deliver it a fairy tale ending. Rita tells us at both the beginning and end of the story that things didn’t happen exactly as we see them unfold. It’s just how she remembers them. For as much as the fantasy elements are there to ease the darkness of the story…they add just as much sadness when you take that statement at face value. Abused children retreating to a world of fantasy to escape the day-to-day horrors of their reality. Yeah…it’s not an easy watch.
There are moments of hope, of course. Rebellious children are rebelling for the right reasons. Plans to expose the cruelty performed on them. Plans to escape. Through it all, however, hangs a dark cloud of inevitability. Even if you are unfamiliar with the true events…Rita rarely feels like there is a true way out. It feels like this movie, their story being told, is their continuing resistance. Which is to speak well of the film itself…but be prepared for the harrowing story that it tells.
Bustamante fills the orphanage with non-actors. Real children telling the story of real children. You wouldn’t know if you didn’t read it here (or somewhere). The authenticity of the characters is one of Rita’s greatest strengths. It’s a bet that pays off in a big way. These young women come across as completely real. Their situation feels real. Their struggle feels real. And their fate…well…it was real.
It’s easy to tell you that Rita is a very good movie. Perhaps even a great one. That doesn’t make it easy to recommend. At least from an enjoyability standpoint. The story should be seen. The message is important. From those perspectives, I highly recommend watching Rita when it comes to Shudder in a few days. Just be prepared for how realistic this fantasy feels. It isn’t a fairy tale, after all. It’s just told that way by someone who had nothing real to believe in.
Scare Value
Rita is not an easy watch for obvious reasons. The fantasy elements put a lighter spin on some dark themes. Those elements carry their own bleakness with them by the end of the story. The movie is a force of nature barreling through a storm of sadness. Which…probably doesn’t sound very fun. Rita isn’t meant to be. It’s a harrowing fairy tale that takes place in our own twisted reality.
