Parvulos

First things first: if you can’t handle bad things happening to cute animals, this is not the film for you. There is no room for cute in Isaac Ezban’s latest. There is little room for pity. This is childhood’s end.

“What’s in it?” asks seven-year-old Benjamin (Mateo Ortega Casillas), poking at his soup.

“Protein,” says Salvador (Farid Escalante Correa), his big brother.

The two of them live with middle brother Oliver (Leonardo Cervantes), all alone in a ramshackle house in the middle of the forest. Salvador looks at most 18, probably younger, but he has looked after the others for a long time – and this despite the fact that, missing the lower part of his left leg, all sorts of day to day tasks are harder for him. He somehow manages to find food, and cooks it. He’s trying to master farming. He does the housework and reads bedtime stories. He has managed to construct a crossbow which he keeps out of reach of his siblings. He and Oliver have assembled makeshift armour which they use when they go down into the cellar to feed what lurks there, the thing that he still desperately wants to keep Benjamin from seeing.

“He knows more than you think,” Oliver cautions.

Viewers will also grow suspicious pretty quickly. It’s not hard to put two and two together, but Ezban’s work does not hinge on a single revelation. There’s a lot more to this world. Despite seeing it only from the perspective of these frightened boys, we are gradually able to put the pieces together. Though many aspects of the scenario are familiar, the focus on children is not, and – especially for those with children or small siblings of their own – it makes it feel very different. These are characters usually missing from such tales; their experiences are something we don’t want to contemplate. Ezban does not let us look away.

Detail gives the film depth. Height marks scratched on a tree tell us that the boys have been living there for some time. Pictures of monsters give us a glimpse inside Benjamin’s interpretation of events. What hangs in the trees nearby tells us something different. When two of the boys take a trip, it becomes clear that they are not the only people around, but we must hope that they don’t meet any of the others.

There are brighter moments: literally so when the film’s muted colours give way to the brightness of the one movie the boys own, a psychedelic cartoon whose projection can be powered by Salvador riding an exercise bike. Brightness in other ways, too, when, for a while, Benjamin’s childish courage and optimism drive the narrative. There is talk of aid parcels potentially being dropped from the sky by Russian planes – something to keep dreams alive. Salvador doesn’t have many of those anymore, but even he finds moments of pleasure, listening to his one record or, well, in the other ways that boys his age do. Some things don’t change, but paramount amongst these is the love of family. Ezban’s success lies in his use of that to power the drama and to keep viewers in a state of terror.

Screened at the 2024 Fantasia international Film Festival, Párvulos – whose title translates into English as toddlers – is a tough watch, but has a sort of poetry to it. The characters are beautifully drawn and realised. Their relationship delivers warmth and wit. It might serve as a reminder that, without the need for extreme scenarios, there are kids surviving much like them all around the world. Vulnerable as they are, they are part of our future.