PLOT SUMMARY: Diego and his mother Lucia are haunted by a beast when their father is away. But does the beast really exist?
There was a time before technology and before electricity. A time when people chose to live away from people and believed in monsters. It was also a time when kids were taught to play hand-clapping games and sing along to a man called Mr Frederico who chops up his wife and eats her.
Times were hard then and children were made to toughen up by giving them guns and telling them horrific stories of people committing suicide.
Fortunately, we live in modern times where children are spared all this.
THE WASTELAND/ El Páramo Movie Plot
Diego wakes up in the middle of the night and breaks the pot he used to go to the bathroom in. He wakes up his mother who in turn wakes up her husband who then, equipped with a gun, takes his son outside to use the latrine.
This is supposed to set a dark tone for the movie. There is a threat not yet known to us. All we see are a couple of shabby poles placed a bit in front that serves as a blockade. Diego can play outside during the day but never go beyond the poles.
So when one of their rabbits escapes and runs beyond the pole, Diego stops and doesn't follow him. The rabbits are Diego's playmates as well as his dinner when there's nothing more to eat.
Diego has a habit of spying on his parents and sees his father put a gun in his mouth but not pull the trigger. Diego gasps and Salvador pushes the gun away. He then spies on his mother prancing in front of the mirror and placing a red dress in front of her. She catches her son and tells him that Salvador made it for her. Her husband sure is a remarkable dressmaker considering the details he put into the dress, ruffles and all.
When Diego's birthday comes around, his mother wears the red dress at her son's behest and bakes him an apple pie while his father gifts him a shotgun, telling him he needs to learn how to use it. Lucia is adamant that Diego is too young and his innocence must be preserved. It's okay to play clapping games about husbands cooking up their wives, but guns are where lines are drawn.
Lucia upstages her husband Salvador by gifting Diego cans on a string. Then they stand apart and play I spy. We never learn what they play and what colours are used as clues. Everything in the wasteland is dull and brown and grey.
I bet it's a tough game. I see the colour brown...is it the grass outside? The chair? The blanket? The walls? The clothes? I give up!
One day, a boat comes near their house. Salvador pulls it forward and tells Diego to move back when he sees what is in it. Diego moves closer to see.
It's a man, all bloodied with a knife in his hand. He may have cut his own throat. Salvador decides to heal him while the family rummages through the guy's stuff and finds a photo of him with his family.
Lucia and Diego and in the room, and she's teaching him how to braid her hair and her son does a terrible job. She sings even suddenly the injured man walks in. Diego sees him in the mirror and gets shocked. The man picks up the shotgun just lying about and Lucia lets her maternal instincts take over and move in front of her son.
There's a gunshot and the man's head is blown off. Salvador is tasked with wrapping the body while Lucia cleans the brain matter and blood off the floor. Diego doesn't want to spy on his parents any more.
Salvador decides to return the body to his family who he thinks may be looking for him and may inadvertently put themselves in danger by wandering about in creepy places.
Lucia is against the idea but gives in, promising Salvador that she would be right here. Where else could she go, anywhere? There isn't another house seen in miles. Salvador rides off and Diego follows him until the poles.
Days pass and Lucia initially tries to distract Diego by playing games with him.
More days pass and Lucia slips into depression, especially on her birthday since Salvador doesn't show up. Diego makes her depression worse by baking a burnt apple pie for her. He then badgers her to play I spy with the cans.
Lucia doesn't want to but gives in but she also makes Diego stand outside while she stays in. They barely play a round when Lucia gets quiet all of a sudden. The next instant she charges out with a shotgun and begins shooting claiming the beast is here, the very beast Salvador used to try telling Diego about but Lucia never allowed him to.
Diego tries to look at what Lucia is shooting at but doesn't see anything. Lucia tells him they are safe for now but as time passes, she becomes almost paranoid about the beast.
Diego dreams about his aunt who committed suicide when she was a little girl. He tells Lucia later if the beast was responsible for that. Lucia tells him that his aunt was abused by her parents and couldn't take it anymore which is why she jumped out the window.
Diego has given up on his father returning and goes to sit in his seat but Lucia reprimands him. They run out of food because Salvador used to do all the foraging and she tells him to pick a rabbit they can have for dinner. Diego watches as a rabbit is selected and murdered.
He begins to believe his mother is losing it. Her mother keeps screaming about the beast being there but Diego can still not see it.
Eventually, Lucia starts getting distant from her son to the point that he shows attitude and she reminds him she's in charge now that his father isn't there.
At one point Lucia mentions Diego smells bad to which he points out she doesn't smell so good either. This is hardly surprising considering we see clothes hanging out to dry outside but never their clothes or blankets or anything. It's always white sheets. Is it a bedsheet? And only one?
Then yes, their clothes must stink even though they are wearing different ones every day.
They get in the same tub and Lucia wants to hold a contest about how long they can hold their breath. Diego gets a record of two seconds. Lucia shows off by staying in longer. Now it is implied that the beast sighting brings about despair and depression in a person to the point that they become suicidal. Diego suspects that too and so gets worried when Lucia stays underwater for more than thirty-five seconds.
He pulls her out and she laughs off her suicidal attempt.
THE WASTELAND/ El Páramo Ending Explained with Spoilers!
Sometime later, Diego finds hair on the floor. He goes to find his mother who has cut her hair and is wearing the red dress. Washed, hopefully.
They have dinner after which she practically pushes Diego outside after throwing a cape on his face.
She tells him it desires her and slams the door on his face.
Diego manages to get inside with a shotgun. He sees his mother laying on the floor, all bloodied and holding a knife in her hand. Did the beast prompt her to kill herself? Is that what the beast does? Get inside people's heads?
Diego takes a shot at the beast then manages to set the house on fire. He drags his mother out on a wagon and gey away.
But after some time he notices his mother has passed away. He lets her float in the river and then walks away to the vast emptiness.
Without food and water, it remains to be seen how Diego would manage in the wild.
And has the beast been destroyed? Or will it come after Diego considering he stalks those who have experienced some pain or trauma-based on his previous victims?
The movie was slow but kept the suspense upon whether or not the beast exists. The beast is barely shown which is disappointing and his methods are also questionable. Just what is its history and why has he been stalking this family?
And why does he desire Lucia? Is it because she was depressed after Salvador left and the Beast was attracted to sorrow?
Could be.
Scare Scale: 2.5/5
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