We follow a small guerrilla group of child soldiers called the Aporna, with pubertal names such as Smurfen, the Wolf, the Swede (hello Film in Western co-production), Rambo, Boom Boom and so on. Led by a short, but ruthless commander in a foggy mountain valley where they practice wrestling, capoeira and military discipline. They are preparing for some kind of battle we know nothing about.
Initially, it is unclear whether these are lost children who are only playing war but the seriousness soon becomes apparent. The commander shows up with a milk cow named Shakira who is accidentally shot, a blunder that has deadly consequences.
The conflict in Colombia , where the state for a low-intensity war against various guerrillas, crime syndicates and paramilitary groups, has been going on since the 1960s. The fact that the children in the Aporna belong is not entirely clear, but neither is the director Alejandro Lande's focus. It doesn't matter who they fight for.
We can, if we wish, understand that they are a product of the US "war on drugs", of corrupt political and multinational corporate interests. But it is never particularly pronounced.
Landes wants to explore group psychology in the extreme situations created by the conflict, and uses an incredibly beautiful imagery to succeed. The moist mountains and the tropical jungle never appear to be threatening environments, but the atrocities are made worse if possible by the beauty of the photo of nature framing the brainwashed children.
They have been given responsibility for a hostage, a 45-year-old North American woman who is also forced into their penalistic games and does everything to try to escape. Her fate has long been Mono's great thrill, and the atrocities that have created the children's situation are reflected in their treatment of hostages. Watching children mock and bully an adult woman has an almost extremely brutal quality, a trauma transmitted and amplified by youth.
At the same time, excitement is not enough all the way and it is difficult not to get a little bored. Both the aim of the kidnapping and the war are so diffuse, the motive of the strange commander so unclear. Everything becomes mostly a study of cruelty.
Why do I really look at these little monsters?