STAFF PICK: Shaman
By Yasmin Al-Omain-Nuncio – Screenplay Assistant
As someone who grew up with family members who had studied healing techniques with Shamans and Curanderos alike, the film Shaman was delightfully frustrating. The film follows Candice, Joel, and Elliot in Ecuador: a family spreading the Christian faith to the locals while also integrating themselves into the community. A day before his Confirmation, Elliot happens upon a nearby cave, one that the other children are exceptionally weary of but their protests don’t hold Elliot back. Despite their warnings and insight, Elliot ventures inwards and, unfortunately, something latches onto him.
The film highlights how one’s own biases might lead one astray, with the biggest example being how Candice turns help away because it comes from a place and mythology unknown to her. The story utilizes haunting imagery of black veins and ooze coming from within, showcasing a darkness and doubt that already resides in all of us coming to the surface. Not only that, but the unnatural darkness that seeps from characters’ pores is complemented by the terrifying beauty of nature itself, specifically in moments where scorpions indicate danger in more ways than the obvious.
And when it came to danger, characters would choose to follow the worst paths open to them. Bad decisions are often the core of any compelling horror film and the minds behind Shaman understood that immensely. At every turn, I wanted to take the characters’ hands and guide them to the best decision possible, even when the film conveyed that there was no turning back. Shaman will have any viewer stressed and frustrated in the best way possible and it is all thanks to its evocative visual aesthetics and the captivating story overall.
Shaman
(Ecuador, 94 MIN)
Writer: Daniel Negret
Director: Antonio Negret
Cast: Sara Canning, Daniel Gillies, Jett Klyne, Humberto Morales
A Missionary converting an Indigenous Community in a remote Ecuadorian volcano must come to terms with her own Faith when her son is possessed by dark forces older than her own religion.
Make sure you catch one of two showings of CROSSWORD while at AFF: