Isaac Ezban’s “Parvulos” may start out with the veneer of a monster flick. The usual markers are all there right off the bat. Traditional monster narratives demand it to be first hidden from plain sight. The suspense is built on the promise of lurking terror. Apprehension clouds the air as we wait for a glimpse at a presumable barbarity of vision. Ezban leans into these tendencies, which are arguably a tad too predictable in his visual approach.
The supposed monster in this film, of course, dwells confined downstairs. Food is brought to it tentatively by the assigned duo, while the third is guarded from the knowledge. Why is the third sheltered from an intimate proximity with the supposed beast? The ambiance Ezban creates is thick with dread and nervous anticipation. It’s almost like he is preparing us for some ghastly but inevitable discovery that will have fraught consequences for the three siblings at the center of the story. The brothers may not be best equipped to handle the worsening, unpredictable situation, but they huddle together to grapple with it to the best of their ability, even as they are pushed to their own bestial instincts.
One of the earliest things we are told in the voiceover is how there are two natural constants in the world, as propounded by the narrator’s parents. Family and change are those two. This is the lens through which most of the action in the film is perceived. We are reminded continually of it as the narrative progresses rather alarmingly. The reassurance seems to have been laced into this initial message. Salvador (Felix Farid) is the eldest brother. He is partially physically disabled and relies on his younger brothers, Oliver (Leonardo Cervantes) and Benjamin (Mateo Ortega).
There’s a pandemic raging. Their surroundings have emptied out. Desolation spreads through the vicinity, but there’s also a solidly palpable fear of the infected skulking about. Salvador and Benjamin set out to forage for food, wandering the neighboring abandoned areas. They are also very much on the qui vive for probable attacks that could be intensely deadly. Oliver has to stay back home to feed the ‘monster.’
The brothers are also hopeful of a cure for the virus that has left everyone in deep paranoia. The time span during which the virus laid siege on humanity isn’t specified, though it doesn’t present any major problems in the narrative. Salvador also cautions against the presence of ‘trumpets.’ What they actually mean and their capacity for brutality become starkly and tragically clear only in the film’s climactic stretch.
To fully relish the film, critical chunks of the plot are best left undisclosed. The reveal that happens quite early in the film isn’t wholly unsurprising. Yet, the film’s screenplay, which Ricardo Aguado-Fentanes has written alongside Ezban, is delicious in teasing and poking apart normative assumptions of parenting. In the circumstances that involve a role reversal, there’s bizarreness in the growing expectations of the children but also a plausible, devastating touch of absolute, stubborn faith. That the children are so adamantly hopeful of turning things around yields the biggest sources of the heartbreaking undertow of the film.
At the heart of the film is an anguished reckoning with family and the degree to which one may be driven in one’s love for it and to sustain it despite an escalating realization of the ultimate futility of such efforts. Nevertheless, the love ensures one keeps going, even if the deepening compulsion necessitates the most shocking, grotesque acts.
“Parvulos” has a bleached-out tone and terrific visual effects but finally rests on the tight, wonderfully believable, and emotionally wrenching bond Farid, Cervantes, and Ortega are able to create. The trio’s performances keep you thoroughly invested as the stakes heighten, genuinely making you root and care for the brothers who remain dogged in the bonds of familial love and nurturing.
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