“A stunningly crafted film that revolves around the process of finding meaning in the ambiguities that we encounter over time, and the act of searching for answers to impossible questions.”

There is a moment in the third act of The Message (El mensaje) in which a character notes that “certain pains are in the soul, not the body” while assessing an animal for some peculiar malady that seemingly has no clear cure. This is perhaps the most appropriate description of this film and its multitude of themes. Director Iván Fund crafts yet another beautiful and enigmatic drama that combines a tender examination of the human condition with a vigorously unconventional set of ideas, each one curious and engaging in its own right. The film follows Anika, an impressionable young girl traversing various urban and pastoral spaces across Argentina with unscrupulous guardians who take advantage of her gift to communicate with animals by commodifying her talent for their personal gain. A simple and evocative film carrying an abundance of sincerity, and in which Fund once again demonstrates his firm command over this medium, The Message is a truly special, well-crafted drama with an abundance of ideas and the forthright commitment to follow through on all of them with the same compassion and attention to detail. It quietly burrows its way into the heart of the viewer, instilling in us a sense of both curiosity and deep, sincere melancholy as it sets out to explore the somewhat ambiguous boundaries between worlds.

Pinpointing the right place to start a discussion of The Message is almost impossible, since despite a linear plot progression, the ideas are spread out across the film in such a way that we may only pick up on some fundamental theme or concept midway through. It’s a curious puzzle of a film, and Fund is not focused on following traditional patterns as far as examining the underlying themes. It seems that every vaguely experimental or slightly unorthodox work produced in South America is labelled with the term ‘magical realism’, to the point where it has taken on a much broader meaning. Yet there is something in how this film not only evokes the long culture of Argentinian artists in several different media, but also plays on the cultures and traditions of the region, that makes it truly enchanting and quietly ushers us towards some deeper, more profound experience. On the surface, it seems to be a relatively straightforward story about a young girl travelling with two adults as they try to make a living – but while this is fascinating in its own right (and the director offers some genuinely compelling insights into his country and its culture), there is something much deeper to the film, a quality that is best defined by the frequent use of scenes that take place with little or no spoken dialogue. Somehow the silences say more than words, and the combination of stark imagery and the frequent symbolic allusions makes the process of attempting to decode this film a far more engaging experience.

As said, at its core The Message is a story about a young girl travelling the country and slowly starting to have the wider world revealed to her, which is done through interacting with a range of different characters, each one adding something new to her (meta)physical journey. The simplest angle through which we can view this film is as a coming-of-age story, with the character of Anika as the perfect protagonist to accompany us through Fund’s slightly unconventional but undeniably brilliant examination of society and the challenges that come when trying to understand its nuances. A few of the familiar tropes associated with this style of filmmaking are used to support this aspect of the narrative, particularly in how it revolves around a young protagonist whose innocence provides a lens through which we are able to view her surroundings and the people who reside there. However, it builds on these ideas by crafting a beautifully poetic story of a trio of characters who are perpetually on the move – even in the momentary stops along their exhaustive cross-country journey they seem to be continuously in some state of transit, even if only psychologically. To evoke these ideas, the film anchors itself around the astonishing lead performance by Anika Bootz, whose poignant and complex turn is a far cry from the usual tendency to present younger protagonists as overly precocious and twee. Her work here is steady and grounded in something truly remarkable, with her depiction of this girl who retreats into her own mind as she journeys to find a sense of belonging providing an absolute highlight in a film that is already filled with incredible elements.

While it would have been sufficient to make a film that features so many thought-provoking ideas, The Message is not only a bundle of intriguing conversations, but also contains countless unforgettable images. A reunion with DoP Gustavo Schiaffino (who is steadily establishing himself as one of the most unusual cinematographers working today) yields astonishing results, with the entirety of the film consisting of starkly beautiful compositions, handcrafted in collaboration between these two exceptional visionaries.  Every aspect of the film, both visually and aurally, is well-constructed and has some thought behind it. The music, which consists of a blend of existing works and new compositions, establishes a very clear, enchanting atmosphere that aids in defining the film’s identity as a mood-driven drama in which the smaller details are much more important than the broader strokes. In particular, the recurring use of ‘Always on My Mind’ (a song that has transcended geographical and generational boundaries) in a few key moments creates a sense of familiarity, while also drawing on the deeper implications of a song that is both ethereal and earthly, a description we can apply to this film as a whole. The Message moves with such a unique rhythm and is very much driven by its underlying atmosphere. More so than its narrative, which in itself is still beautifully poetic, but secondary to the quiet brilliance of Fund’s techniques in bringing this story to life by playing on several of our senses in tandem, leading to some poignant and meaningful observations about human nature.

The Message is the rare film that exists at the intersection of paying tribute to the medium’s history (with echoes of Wim Wenders’ Alice in the Cities and Theo Angelopoulos’ Landscape in the Mist in terms of both style and narrative, whether intentional or not), as well as being an entirely new work. It consolidates Fund as one of the most intriguing contemporary artists and an essential voice in the steadily growing canon of revolutionary South American filmmakers that are redefining cinema in the global south, which has proven to be fertile ground for highly original, innovative works of art that challenge the boundaries of the medium and what it can achieve. In terms of the narrative, the film is quite simple and unfurnished, and this works in its favour since it allows the more esoteric elements to quietly move to the forefront, gradually overtaking the main narrative and creating an atmospheric piece that touches on universal themes. Beneath the surface, many complexities guide the film towards its eventual destination, the nature of which we don’t ever truly understand, with Fund instead leaving it to the viewer’s interpretation to draw correlations between most of its themes. Ultimately, The Message is a stunningly crafted film that revolves around the process of finding meaning in the ambiguities that we encounter over time, and the act of searching for answers to impossible questions, which is an apt way to make sense of the endless revelations and complexities that come with simply being alive.

Image copyright: Iván Fund, Laura Mara Tablón, Gustavo Schiaffino / Rita Cine, Insomnia Films