Monos - A Herzogian Filmmaking Challenge about Guerilla Warfare

Warning, spoilers!

Filmmaking under extreme conditions can lead to some of the most jaw dropping cinematic experiences. The cast and crew bravely, or foolishly, put their health and safety at stake for the sake of art. It may be painful and even unnecessary, but in some cases it pays off through images and scenes that are utterly stunning and gripping. Such is the case of Brizilian born filmmaker Alejandro Landes’ new film about Latin American guerilla fighters, Monos.

Landes took his crew and cast of mainly non actors high into the mountains and deep into the jungle to capture raw, sublime, untamed nature at its most savage and beautiful. It may seem like a waste of time to suffer through this in the digital world where films like The Jungle Book and The Lion King create entire computer generated jungle landscapes that would be nearly inaccessible to humans (if they were real) look pretty darn believable. But Landes’ film is proof that pretty darn good is not the same as the awe inspiring images and moments he was able to capture.

The most recent big budget film to receive headlines about the intense filmmaking conditions was Alejandro Gonzalez Iñaritu’s The Revenant, where they were shooting in sub zero temperatures, he faced near mutinies from the crew, and leading actor DiCaprio even went as far as to eat a real raw liver. Landes’ has been open about how difficult the shoot for Monos was, claiming that everyone cried at least once, and one day, working in the rainforest, he was unable to get up or move and he had to be carried on a stretcher up a canyon to get medical attention.

And while Monos has been compared to Coppola’s Apocalypse Now or William Golding’s novel The Lord of the Flies, I believe the most appropriate comparison is with Werner Herzog’s daring filmmaking exploits to make Aguirre the Wrath of God or Fitzcarraldo, also filmed in the South American jungles. In both films Herzog dragged his crew into the rainforest to film the unfilmable. The stories and rumors about tension and problems on the sets almost outshine the films themselves. Herzog is the ultimate filmmaking adventurer, for whom the challenge of filmmaking and the discovery that the impossible can be done are as important as the final product itself. In Fitzcarraldo he famously literally dragged an enormous ship over the top of a mountain. The use of movie magic trickery only went so far for Herzog. He was just as dedicated to accomplishing mad feats as the protagonists in his films are.

Like Herzog, Landes captures the lives of the guerilla warriors in their naturally oppressive settings, and the wonder of how a shot was done, or how everyone survived the shoot is just as invigorating as the action on screen. And the action on screen, combined with the cinematography by Jasper Wolf, is breathtaking. What make both Herzog and Landes’ films so impressive are these isolated, harsh, naturally oppressive landscapes that are somehow also mysteriously beautiful. In Monos, the cold mountain tops are home to mystical fog, heavenly stars, and colorful skies. The jungles swarming with heat, humidity, and insects are also home to vibrant greenery, roaring rivers, and crystal clear water falls. We feel discomfort, disgust, and even pain for the physical conditions of the characters on screen, but as viewers, are also free to wonder at the beauty of the images.

The characters are similarly nostalgic and horrifying. They are teenaged guerilla warriors who go by the code name of Monos, or Monkeys, and are in charge of keeping an American scientist captive. The actors, almost all of them unprofessional, are wonderful in their roles, playing characters with code names like Perro (Dog) Pata Larga (Bigfoot) Rambo, and Pitufo (Smurf). Their young faces and lively performances show the joy of youth. They may be brainwashed child warriors, but there is some innocence left in their eyes even as they carry out horrific assignments. As they train, mindlessly fire machinenguns, and violently act out against each other, they also party and experience love and sex for the first time. They are not simple antagonists, but the result of the terrible conditions life gave them.

It is difficult to pick out one or two performances to highlight, as all of the actors are phenomenal. Whether it is Laura Castrillón as Swede holding the scientist hostage in a bunker as a battle goes on above showing both fear and madness as she goes from tearfully trembling to maniacal laughter, or Deibi Rueda as Smurf with his skinny body and childlike face helping the scientist escape then shrieking for her to come back for him, Moisés Arias as Bigfoot (one of the few professional actors who got his start in Hannah Montana of all places) whose big eyes and protruding nose are used to effect in making him the vigilante coldblooded killer who chillingly emerges from the darkness painted all in black, only his blue eyes revealing a person in the blackness, Wilson Salazar as The Messenger, a midget adult who trains them shirtless, his buff body beaming them into submission despite his size, or, perhaps most remarkably, Sofía Buenaventura as Rambo, an actress who does not identify as male or female playing a male character whose sense of right and wrong leads him to an inner struggle that puts him at the mercy of his comrades.

The rest of the cast is remarkable as well, but Lamdes’ inclusive casting of Salazar and Buenaventura is really a welcome sight. The two characters are perfectly emerged in the world of the film. It does not feel as if a politically correct statement is being made by their presence. Quite the contrary, their presence feels essential, and the film is all the richer for it. Salazar was an actual guerilla fighter and was brought on board to act after helping to train the actors. And Buenaventura’s hermaphroditic appearance is especially intriguing, setting her apart from the others. Rambo never feels he is quite part of the group, and it is perhaps this feeling of social nonacceptance that leads him to be the one to rethink what they are doing.

These actors flesh out the world of guerilla warfare. Columbia has been a place of intense this type of fighting for decades and the film expertly gives us an inside look into the child fighters everyday life. There is a harrowing scene when the other teens track Rambo to a family’s house where he was hiding out. They murder the parents of the family, and, as they enter the house they see the dead couple’s children hiding under a table with a small monkey. The message is very clear, this is how the guerillas are recruited. These new orphans will be the next generation of Monos.

In the end of the film, Rambo finally escapes in a thrilling chase down a raging river as she is forcefully dragged through harsh, fast rapids. It is an unbelievable sequence that still has me asking how they did it without risking the actress’s life. In the end she survives the rivee and is rescued by a military helicopter. As they approach a city the soldiers in the helicopter ask what is to be done with him as Rambo looks at us directly in the camera. It is a very literal question. What can be done with these adolescents who have only even known war, and hiding, and military training? Where is their place in society? What can they really offer, and how can we help them? The question, left unanswered on the walkie talkie, is not easy for the audience to respond.

However, what is 100% clear is that we can finally catch our breath as the credits roll after such an invigoratingly intense and thought provoking film. Questions on how they shot scenes and on how mentally and physically straining the shoot must have been still ring in my head. What I do know though, is that whatever the difficulties while going through the painful adventure of making the film, it was all definitely worth it. I am sure Herzog would agree.