An Average Movie-Goer’s Review
Spoilers! If you don’t want spoilers – check out the Spoiler-Free post
I love horror movies and if I’m going to watch them anyway, why not write an entertaining/funny review from the POV of an average movie-goer and not a professional critic.
Today we’re looking at the 2021 Netflix exclusive The Wasteland also known as El Páramo
In 19th century Spain, an isolated family must deal with a beast that feeds on fear and the effects it has on each other.
Is it Scary?
The Wasteland has a few good jump scares but mostly focuses on telling its story. In this case this means the scares never reach a truly terrifying feeling. They’re more of a slow-burn and you definitely see them coming but they’re spaced out enough where it never gets boring.
Most of the suspense will come from what the family will do next but you won’t be left afraid to go to sleep… unless you have an outhouse and a small bladder.
Detailed Plot:
The film opens with some slow creepy music among several shots of a wooden doll. Some texts pop up telling us the movie takes place in Spain in the 19th century. Several wars have left the land wounded and many families have isolated themselves far away from others in order to escape the violence and madness.
After a title card we see a table with multiple carved wooden dolls.
As we pan out we see the table of dolls is actually in the room of one of our main characters, a child name Diego (played by Asier Flores). With it being the middle of the night, Diego is a bit more terrified and on top of that, he has the urge to pee. Reaching for the chamber pot under his bed, he’s startled by one of the dolls and drops the pot, breaking it.
Diego goes to his parent’s room and tells his mom, Lucia (played by Inma Cuesta) about his predicament. Lucia wakes up her husband, Salvador (played by Roberto Álamo) to accompany his son to the outhouse behind the house.
Returning to the home, Lucia calls Diego to her room by calling out “my love” as Salvador chooses to sleep in Diego’s room. This small exchange really shows us just how close Lucia and Diego are as well as showing us that Diego is sort of a momma’s boy.
The following morning Salvador urges Diego to kill a rabbit for food but he’s too afraid and accidentally drops it. The rabbit makes a run for it with Diego giving chase but stopping at the edge of their property that is guarded by scarecrows.
Salvador and Lucia briefly debate whether Diego has to learn how to kill animals for food at the moment, with Salvador claiming he needs to learn how to be a man. Lucia calls Diego over and brings him inside to cut potatoes instead.
We see a quick montage of Lucia and Diego bonding over daily chores including; feeding and caring for the rabbits, caring for their horse, hanging laundry, and carrying water to the home from a nearby river.
After this we see a quick glimpse of Salvador staring off into the distance though we don’t see what he is looking at. Later, Diego spies on his dad engraving a shotgun but it also appears Salvador contemplates suicide for a moment as he places the barrel under his chin.
That night we see it’s Diego’s birthday and his mom prepares him a birthday pie as the family sit around the table to celebrate. Salvador gives him his gift which is the shotgun he was engraving earlier.
Diego is clearly apprehensive saying he doesn’t know how to use it but Salvador offers to show him right there and then. Lucia sternly states the gift is for when he is older but Salvador once again says Diego needs to mature.
Lucia changes the subject and gives Diego a gift from her which is two cans attached by a string so they can talk from long distances. By long distances I mean from outside to the inside of the home since that string isn’t too long.
Using the cans they play “I spy” with the two having a grand ol’ time. Later the family is sitting by the fire listening to Lucia tell scary stories as her and Diego carve more wooden dolls. Meanwhile Salvador is staring quietly at the fire.
Diego asks for another story and his dad starts with one about a beast more evil than any other. Lucia begs him to tell a different story, implying she’s heard it before, but Salvador continues. We learn the beast is tall with hollowed cheeks and no eyes. Once the beast finds a victim it follows you around feeding on the fear.
Salvador says, that while some think the story is a lie he knows it’s not. Before he can elaborate about his sister, Lucia cuts him off and sends Diego to bed.
The following day, while Salvador is once again staring out into the distance, a small boat floats down the river which Diego spots and tells Salvador about. Against his father’s wishes, Diego accompanies him to the boat where they find an unconscious badly injured man covered in blood.
Salvador tends to the man’s wounds and brings him back to the house. Later, while Diego and his mother are singing, the man awakens and stumbles into the house. Diego spots him but is too scared to say anything at first.
The man points to something just beyond the door that we can’t see and the camera shifts to the outside showing us there’s nothing there. The man then grabs the nearby shotgun and kills himself.
That night Diego finds a photobook in the man’s belongings and finds a picture of his family. Before he could look at anything else, Salvador, who is sitting at the dining table, tells him to stop.
Diego joins him at the table and asks about Salvador’s sister, Juana. We learn Salvador’s parents used to physically abuse them as children. In order to feel braver the two spent nights telling each other scary stories until one day Juana claimed to see the beast.
At first she saw the beast far away but each day it came closer and closer. One night she claimed it was right outside. Salvador ran to her room and looked out the window only to see nothing was there. Several days later, Juana ran to him in the middle of the night begging for help as the beast had climbed through her window and was hiding behind the wardrobe.
Salvador chastised her and called her a coward, telling her to let him sleep. Later he awoke to find Juana staring out the window fixated at something that he couldn’t see. She then jumped to her death. Salvador warns his son, once you see the beast, the rest of your life is doomed. Good fatherly advice was very different back in the 19th century.
The following morning Diego finds his father and mother arguing outside. Salvador has prepared the horse and plans to find the man’s family to deliver his body. Diego begs him not to go because of the dangers outside their land but his father reveals a revolver and says he’ll be fine. As he leaves, Salvador tells Diego to take care of his mother.
We next see a montage of Diego and Lucia acclimating to being without Salvador. At first everything appears to be fine with the two playing, tending to the small farm, and Lucia teaching Diego how to tell how far lightning is by counting the time between the light and sound.
But, as the days continue to pass it becomes clear Lucia is growing tired. Diego, himself, talks to his pet rabbits using them as a proxy for his doubts about whether his father will return.
On the morning of Lucia’s birthday, Diego prepares his mother a birthday pie and although I’m sure he tried his best, it comes out burnt. Despite this, he gives it to his mother and doesn’t notice her tears of sadness. He asks her to play ‘I Spy’ with him using the cans and although she tells him no at first, she eventually relents.
Diego goes outside, passing the can through the window and Lucia goes first. Almost immediately she tells him to run back into the house. She runs out holding the shotgun aiming into the distance.
The camera shifts to her view and we see nothing is there. Lucia tells Diego she doesn’t know what she saw and lowers her gun with the two heading back to the house.
That night Diego is woken up by a girl who asks him if he’s seen the beast yet. She points to a nearby window where we see the same girl staring out of the window. It appears Diego is having a nightmare and the girl is Juana.
The camera zooms out of the window and we see Juana laying dead several stories down. We zoom in close to her and the dead Juana wakes up telling Diego, “it’s coming.”
Sometime later during a storm, Lucia and Diego attempt to have dinner but Lucia hears something coming from outside. She demands Diego grab his shotgun as she opens the window.
She takes the gun and points it at the distance claiming something is out there hiding behind one of the scarecrows. Lucia fires several shots towards the scarecrow but as the lighting lights up the field, we don’t see anything in the distance.
She tells Diego to stay inside as she grabs more bullets and runs outside continuing to fire at something we can’t see. Moments later she returns telling Diego she was able to scare whatever it was away.
The following morning we see the devastation the storm caused, having blown the scarecrows down and destroyed their crops.
We next see Diego talking to his pet rabbits and Lucia comes in telling him he has to choose one for them to eat. Diego at first refuses but Lucia tells him if he doesn’t, she will as they will starve if they don’t eat. He relents and chooses one but cowers in the corner as Lucia beats it to death with a stick.
Later Diego refuses to eat and runs outside. Lucia, carrying the gun as she seems to be doing wherever she goes, follows after him demanding he ask for permission before he can leave the house.
Diego starts pulling laundry off the clothesline ignoring Lucia but when he gets up Lucia is now pointing the gun in his direction. As the camera swoops around we see Lucia is not actually aiming at Diego but instead aiming at something past him. She tells Diego to stand still as “it” is there.
Lucia runs towards the house firing multiple shots and this time we get clear confirmation that she is shooting at nothing. Diego runs to her asking what it was it was and she claims it must have hidden behind the bushes.
Diego points out it’s closer than it was before and wonders if it’s the beast Juana saw. The two argue, with Lucia saying the beast is just a story and Juana jumped because she lost all hope.
That night as Lucia stares out the window with shotgun in hand, Diego tries to play with her but she refuses. A sound of a pail slamming against the wall outside grabs both of their attention. Sounds of rumbling then echo throughout the home with Lucia following the sounds with the gun. Something bangs on the front door and Lucia instructs Diego to open it.
As he unlocks the door something pushes it open and Lucia fires. She runs to the door and sees Salvador’s horse run by.
Thinking his father has returned, Diego runs outside towards the scarecrows calling to his father. Another gunshot rings out and Diego starts to run back towards the house until he spots something standing just outside of it.
Diego runs, hiding in the outhouse and waits till it sounds as if the beast passes him. He then runs back to the house and locks the door. Lucia asks if he saw it and says she shot at it at point-blank range which did nothing.
Diego notices Lucia brought in Salvador’s bags and finds his revolver out of bullets. Lucia tells him Salvador is never coming back as she starts breaking down a table to board up the doors. Diego then runs outside to collect his rabbits as Lucia provides cover fire shooting into the darkness.
The two return to the house and Lucia smacks Diego for running outside. Lucia then begins boarding up the house.
The following day Lucia lays out several different knives on a table and shows Diego where he needs to stab in order to kill something. He says he prefers to shoot but Lucia tells him they only have two bullets left. She demands he show her what he’s learned but when Diego refuses, she calls him a coward.
We next see another montage of the two essentially living in quarantine as Lucia keeps a watchful eye on the outside through a window. Diego once again talks to his pet rabbit which, like before, is a proxy to his doubts. He debates with the rabbit whether there really is something outside and whether his mom will be okay.
Sometime later Diego awakens and sees a shadow rush past the window. Lucia asks if he saw it and the two hear something climbing onto their roof. Lucia tells Diego this is their chance to attack it and gives Diego the gun telling him to climb the chimney.
Diego is scared but agrees after Lucia says his father would have done it. It amounts to nothing when Diego and the gun fall back down the chimney. The two then hear something start scurrying around the roof, Lucia picks up the gun and shoots narrowly missing Diego.
She goes towards the window to shoot again but Diego jumps in her way reminding her there’s only one bullet left. Relenting, Lucia leaves the room with Diego following behind. She snaps at him, telling him he stinks and Diego simply says she does as well.
The two take a bath, and mirroring an earlier scene, Lucia forces Diego to play a game to see who can hold their breath the longest underwater. But, unlike the first time, this time Diego doesn’t want to play. Lucia forces his head under water and he quits after two seconds.
Lucia then goes down and after 35 seconds Diego begins to panic. He reaches down and struggles with his mother to come back up. Lucia acts like it was part of the game but it’s pretty clear, like Salvador earlier in the film, she was debating suicide.
Later that night while Lucia sits by the window carving wood, Diego talks to his rabbit and decides he needs to take the gun away from his mom. As a storm rages outside, Diego uses the sound of lightning to hide taking the gun and removing the bullets.
After taking the bullets, he slips up and Lucia notices him with the gun. She demands it back, even threatening to slice her own throat if he doesn’t give it up. This naturally causes Diego to give it back but he doesn’t give the bullets and runs to his room.
A few minutes later Diego hears his mother talking to someone telling them she can’t take it anymore. He exits the room to find her on the floor talking into the can with the string leading out of the window. We can assume she believes she is talking to Salvador telling him she misses him and to come back.
As soon as she sees Diego she stops and hands him the can telling him “it says it’s going to enter”. Lucia leaves the room as Diego puts the can to his ear. It sort of sounds like growing but could also just be normal sounds. It doesn’t matter though because Diego hears a sound of something falling coming from the room and rushes to his mother.
He finds Lucia attempting to hang herself and having knocked over the stool under her. Diego puts the stool back but Lucia kicks it away again. Instead of trying to get the stool again, Diego climbs up and cut the rope. He then ties Lucia to her bed and we see him killing his pet rabbit for food.
Diego tries to feed his mother but she refuses to eat and starts to ask where “he” is. We can infer she’s asking for the beast, making it more depressing when she begs Diego to “tell him to come here”.
Diego caresses his mother, climbs into bed with her, and the two fall asleep. A little while later Diego wakes up to the sound of one end of the can ‘phone’ rolling into the room. As he picks it up something in the other room aggressively pulls it back and then rolls the can back to Diego.
He picks it up and this time we definitely hear the beast say “I spy”. Diego tosses the can away, barricades the door, and cuts his mother free. The two run to the living room and Diego instructs his mother to not move as he distracts the beast.
He’s only gone for a few minutes but when he returns his mother is gone. In her room he finds a bunch of her hair on the ground and hears a music box playing nearby. He heads back to the living room, finding Lucia wearing a red dress, having cut her hair, and rocking a cradle with a wooden carving of the beast.
Lucia asks if Diego wants to join them implying there’s someone else sitting at the table. When Diego looks over he sees nothing but darkness. Fearing for his mother, Diego requests for her to take him to the outhouse, just the two of them.
At the door, Lucia pushes Diego out and closes the door, locking him outside. He rushes around the house grabbing an ax and starts chopping at the door. As he makes enough room to fit his arm to unlock the door, Lucia screams inside.
Diego runs in finding his mother barely alive on the ground covered in blood with a knife in her hand. He rushes to her side grabbing her hand but hears growling coming from the other side of the room. Looking up he sees the beast slowly approaching.
Instead of running or cowering in fear, Diego stands up in-between the beast and his mother, demanding it leave her alone. This appears to harm the beast as we were told earlier it feeds on fear. As the beast starts to back away and shrink in size, Diego grabs the shotgun and shoots their last bullet into it.
The beast cries out in pain and Diego sets the house on fire. He runs back to his mother dragging her outside and onto a wheelbarrow. At the scarecrows, Diego stops for a moment having always been afraid to go past them. He hears his mother tell him to carry on and Diego finally gets the courage to move forward.
The following morning they arrive at the river and Diego finds his mother has passed away. The film ends as Diego lets his mother’s body float down the river, sees the beast, and continues forward into the unknown.
What Happened in the End?
Although Salvador tells us the beast feeds on fear, it’s pretty clear the beast is actually a metaphor for depression. After Salvador leaves the family we see Lucia slowly fall into a depressive state and starts seeing the beast but Diego can’t see it.
As her depression increases, further pushed by Salvador appearing to be dead, the beast gets closer until she’s ready to “let him in”. This is the point where Lucia has given up hope and attempts suicide, her “letting him in” is her coming to terms with her decision.
For Diego, he starts seeing shadows as his mother’s well being deteriorates and first sees the beast when his father’s horse returns without his father. As Lucia starts losing hope and becomes more distant with Diego, the beast appears to him more frequently.
When he breaks into the home to save his mother and he stands up to the beast, showing he’s not afraid, I think this is more of a metaphor showing he’s not willing to give into depression. As the very end, after dropping his mother’s body in the river, Diego stills sees the beast and this seems to represent that we can’t totally get rid of depression. It’s something that will linger with us but it doesn’t have to hold us back as we see when Diego continues forward on his journey.
As for Salvador we don’t exactly know what causes the beast to first show up for him but I’m almost certain the moments he was staring out at nothing, it was him seeing the beast. Was Salvador was always haunted by the beast since he seemingly blames himself for his sister’s death? Is it possible Diego was turning the same age as Salvador was when his sister died and that triggered the beast? Was it the isolation the family was facing?
We don’t know and sometimes, for those who suffer from depression, not knowing what causes it is a real thing.
Review:
I thoroughly enjoyed The Wasteland. It wasn’t really scary but definitely tells a good story about a family and their mental health. At times it can be on the nose about the message it’s telling but it never hits you over the head with what’s happening, leaving it open to interpretation.
Overall it’s definitely a slow burn but at just under 90 minutes, it doesn’t get boring. It does drag a bit in the first quarter but these scenes mirror later scenes that really show the change the family is going through. While they might not appear necessary at first, without them the change in happiness the family experiences wouldn’t be impactful.
The acting is pretty good as well as the dialogue which helps you connect to the characters and in a movie with only 2 characters for the entire second half of it that’s a huge plus. The creature design is pretty bland, nothing that will leave you scared but I do think it was purposely done.
Since Diego is afraid of the wooden dolls and is told what the creature looks like by his father, it’s only natural that he sees the beast as something resembling the two. We never see what Salvador or Lucia see the beast as and I think this is to show that the beast isn’t the same for everyone.
I do recommend The Wasteland but I wouldn’t say it’s a ‘highly recommend’ unless you like slow-burn psychological horror that focuses way more on the psychological piece instead of the horror.
Cast IMDB