Festivals: Films of Social Criticism at the Venice Film Festival

Several films in the festival Venice Social grievances denounced.

For example, “La caja” deals with the exploitation of cheap labor in Mexico, while Frenchwoman Audrey Diwan talks relentlessly about the struggle for abortion in “L’événement”. “La caja” comes from Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas, who won the 2015 Golden Lion in Venice for his gay drama “Desde allá”. Audrey Dewan is one of five directors in this year’s festival competition.

In La Caja, a young man picks up his father’s remains, which were found in a mass grave in the desert. But then he meets a man who looks very much like the deceased. The two get closer, and the smaller one slowly learns the machinations of the big factories. They recruited many men and women into the country’s villages and left them to work under harsh conditions.

Back to the sixties

With “L’événement” director Audrey Diwan enters France Back in the early sixties. Ann is a smart young woman who is about to be accepted into the university. But then she gets pregnant and sees her future in danger. You want an abortion, but it’s illegal. All alone, Ann is desperately searching for a way out – not just accepting that she will be arrested and go to jail. An illegal abortion could cost her life, too…

Dubbed “The Box” in English, “La caja” and “Lévénement” (“it happens”) compete at the 78th Venice International Film Festival. Both are vying for the main prizes that will be awarded on Saturday.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210907-99-124955 / 2 (dpa)

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