Review | Piggy – TERROR features a serial killer helping a victim of bullying

Film seen at the Rio 2022 Film Festival.

Bullying is the system of torture that has done the most damage to the self-esteem of young people around the world. And this is not new: this type of aggression is reported in old books, under other names. Fortunately, today we can discuss this issue more openly, especially in environments where young people live – schools, study centres, courses, clubs, etc. – because if not stopped in time, bullying can prevent the full development of an adolescent, which can even make him dangerous for himself, or generate trauma so deep that even the most committed specialist has to hard to back down. To warn of the consequences of this type of practice, the horror ‘Piggy’ saw its sessions sold out at the Festival do Rio 2022 and premiered last Friday for subscribers to the Paramount+ platform.

Sara (Laura Galán) lives with her parents (Carmen Machi and Julián Valcárcel) and her younger brother (Amets Otxoa) in a small town in the interior of Spain. Her parents are butchers, which, in addition to the fact that Sara is obese, makes the young woman the target of playful comments from most of the inhabitants of the city, especially young people of her age. She’s looking for alternatives so she doesn’t feel worse about it all, since she was good friends with Claudia (Irene Ferreiro), but ever since she started hanging out with Maca (Claudia Salas, Rebeka from ‘Elite’) and Roci (Camille Aguilar), their friendship has never been the same. Living this hostile reality constantly, Sara finds it hard to believe when, one day, after suffering violence from her colleagues, a serial killer (Richard Holmes) appears to help her, setting out to hunt anyone who mistreat.

In a kind of twisted retelling of the fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast”, “Piggy” is a film that aptly speaks of the greatest terror of a teenager’s life: that of being verbally and morally abused by from other colleagues. Written and directed by Carlota Pereda, the plot departs from this obese young woman to show the inherent wickedness in the actions (or rather lack thereof) of the inhabitants of a village, including her own parents, who decide to ignore the suffering. of the girl, because, doing -o, the coexistence between all flows more naturally. However, the film also shows that ignoring this problem only makes it boil even more inside the victim, and that the consequences of these aggressions can be multiple, even irreversible.

Have fun watching:

Thus, the film can be divided into two parts: the first, in which we see the daily terror that Sara experiences, suffering all kinds of aggression from all sides; and the second, in which the serial killer actually enters the scene and the murder begins. The most interesting thing is that in the third arc, the scenario leaves the decision to the spectator: after all, who is the worst in this whole scenario, the everyday friend, who calls himself a friend but who constantly wants to hurt you , or the murderer, who kills people (their attackers) without mercy? A sensitive and relevant ethical dilemma.

‘Piggy’ (in the original, ‘Cerdita’) is a great Spanish film that disguises itself as a genre thriller to offer a very important reflection to the viewer. With good and just effective horror scenes, entitled to a bloodbath, the feature film articulates with the young universe and its greatest fears.

Don’t forget to watch: