‘El hoyo’ was a feature film that premiered in Spanish cinemas without making too much noise. Months later it came to the catalog of Netflix worldwide and became a worldwide phenomenon and the most watched non-English language film of all time on the platform.
It has since narrowly lost first place to ‘Blood Red Sky’, but the film directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia It remains a virtually unrepeatable milestone. Today you have the opportunity to recover it or see it for the first time for free, since it is broadcast on La 2 starting at 10:35 p.m. within the Spanish Version space.
Much more than a variant of ‘Cube’
It is inevitable that ‘Cube’ comes to mind when the viewer knows the starting point of ‘The Hole’, but the truth is that they are very different films beyond the overwhelm inherent in the claustrophobic setting that both titles display. Here there is a tendency more towards social allegory, connecting the message of the film with a devastating vision of the human condition.
The film shows two sides when dealing with this, with the first focusing more on the mechanisms behind an experiment that we will never fully understand -because what interests those responsible is not that, because here the dystopia is a pretext rather than the end-, making use of the scathing reflections made by the character played by Zorion Eguileorof which it is even obvious to say that it is the best of the function.
‘El hoyo’ has a more intimate approach in those minutes, focusing more on the relationship between its two main characters to familiarize us with the setting at the same point that the message, both physical and mental, of the character played quite successfully by Ivan Massague.
That is the real base of ‘El hoyo’, with everything that surrounds it being a luxury complement to explain it or highlight it on different levels. For example, the setting work is exemplary, from the pricey staging work of Gaztelu-Urrutia to the atmospheric soundtrack of Aranzazu Callejawithout forgetting that the script of David Desola and Pedro Rivero He is very clear about his goal and how to present it to the viewer.
Where the film generates more division is in the leap it takes after the situation of the protagonists is complicated. The excesses become more present in the film, both because of the different scripts of the script and because of the way of approaching the inevitable violence that will arise in such a situation, because if you are upstairs you are privileged, but downstairs you run the risk that not even the breadcrumbs will arrive.
It was clear that things had to be rushed and also that the way of approaching the evolution of the story is more divisive, playing with metaphors while using the jackhammer for other aspects. I personally think that its first half hour is by far the best of ‘El hoyo’, but it is then when he puts all the cards on the table and really justifies his existence.
That a starting point that hooks and provokes curiosity is relatively easy to achieve, but doing something worthwhile with it is the really complicated task. And ‘The hole’ achieves it, making you reflect on the issues it deals with, even those that leave you with the feeling that they could have given more of themselves or that you would have preferred them to go in another direction. Her bet is clear and takes it to its ultimate consequences. And that was where there was more division, although everything is quite clear.
Let’s not forget either that ‘El hoyo’ is a debut film and made with not particularly loose means, so, over and above its multiple virtues and its few flaws, we could almost describe it as a miracle that a film like this has been made in Spain. But if you prefer to stay with what could have been better, go ahead, but you already want to focus on the drawbacks.