As Bestas Rodrigo Sorogoyen -
Yet, the film forces us to look at Antoine. Is his stubborn idealism a form of monstrosity? He claims to be defending the landscape, but he is willing to sacrifice the economic well-being of an entire village for his principles. He refuses to compromise, to negotiate, or to leave. In the context of the community, his sainthood looks like arrogance. Sorogoyen refuses to pick a side. The beasts are not the brothers; the beast is the situation itself—a zero-sum game where empathy dies. Rodrigo Sorogoyen, working with cinematographer Alex de Pablo, shoots Galicia as a character in its own right. Unlike the postcard-perfect green of travelogues, the Galicia of As Bestas is oppressive. The fog sits heavy like a wet blanket. The forests are tangled and impenetrable. At night, the darkness is absolute, swallowing headlights and footsteps.
Rodrigo Sorogoyen has crafted a film that refuses to let the audience off the hook. It is a horror movie about property lines. A thriller about pronouns (us vs. them). A tragedy where the villain is the architecture of capitalism itself. as bestas rodrigo sorogoyen
As Bestas asks a brutal question: If someone is starving, how much moral authority does a well-fed person have to tell them they cannot eat? Yet, the film forces us to look at Antoine
5/5 Where to watch: Currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video (international) and Movistar Plus+ (Spain). If you liked this: You must also watch The Hunting Ground (Spain, 2017), Marshland (2014), and The Cow who Sang a Song into the Future (2022). Have you seen As Bestas? Do you think Antoine was right to refuse the wind turbines, or was his intransigence a form of suicide? Share your thoughts in the comments below. He refuses to compromise, to negotiate, or to leave
In the vast, windswept plains of Galicia, Spain, a different kind of horror movie is playing out. It doesn't feature jump scares, gothic castles, or supernatural entities. Instead, its terror is rooted in something far more primal: land, pride, and the thin, rusted wire of civilized discourse. Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s 2022 masterpiece, As Bestas (released internationally as The Beasts ), is a slow-burn thriller that burrows under your skin with the persistence of a wood tick.
Sorogoyen is a master of the long take. The film’s infamous ten-minute argument at the village bar plays out in a single, stifling wide shot. We are forced to watch Antoine’s humiliation in real-time, unable to look away as the community’s passive aggression curdles into direct threat. Later, a nighttime chase through a cornfield utilizes disorienting POV shots, turning the familiar rural landscape into a labyrinth.
