The Animal's Wife

Amparo is a young woman who runs from a strict convent school and takes shelter in a neighbourhood in the hills above Medellín. There she falls into the hands of a man called Libardo, known locally as the Animal. He makes her his wife by force. What follows is years of captivity: beatings, threats, isolation. The neighbours know and nobody intervenes; everyone is afraid of him. What keeps Amparo standing is her daughter and her belief that one day she will get out. Víctor Gaviria directs, working from a case that actually happened in Medellín. Two hours. Most of the cast are not professionals; as in all his films, Gaviria worked with people he found on the street. It is hard to watch and makes no attempt to soften that.