Revenge of the bullied is one of horror’s most tried and true story platforms. Never fully exhausted, though exhaustingly relevant, it is the foundation upon which whole subgenres are built. No surprise, perhaps, given the genre’s dedication to exploring deep, complex emotions and universal pains. What is surprising is its near constant portrayal of the bullied as ultimate villain. Where other revenge genres paint vengeance as a cathartic, freeing—though sometimes traumatic—experience, when bullied kids get their moment to snap back on their tormentors, they suddenly become the villain. While this could easily be read as a critique of perpetuating the cycle of violence, its persistence as the only frame for these stories is troubling.
Not so in Carlota Pereda’s Spanish revenge-of-the-bullied film, PIGGY, which just made its Quebec premiere at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival. Seeking to subvert the usual story path, Pereda’s debut feature gives us a refreshingly complex and consistently innocent hero in Sara (Laura Galán). Overweight and under the roof of an overbearing family, she wants nothing more than to live her life like any ordinary teenager. What she gets instead is relentless torment from all sides. Even when she reaches out for help, or even consolation, no one is truly listening. It’s a story too many of us are all too familiar with, but in Sara we are shown a new path.
The almost dreamlike feel of PIGGY, thanks to some of its unusual and never-fully-explained elements, set it apart from most other teenage revenge films, but what really sells it as unique is Galán’s performance. She is a consistent vulnerable canvas of pain and rage that should be enough to make even the hardest audiences sit back and consider the kind of pressure we place on ourselves and others to fit our ideas. Sara’s approach to what constitutes revenge forced me to consider my own expectations of the genre and make space for her frankly refreshing brand of heroism.
Less interested in vengeance by way of bloodshed and more in interrogating the ways we respond to teenage social strife, PIGGY is powerful in its critique—here there are no innocent bystanders—and its message. In a world rife with social violence of all kinds, sometimes the only language fully heard is violence in response. But just as we do not have to perpetuate the cycle, neither do we have to forgive our tormentors. Sometimes it is enough to spare them in silence, but not before baring your teeth.
Tags: Carlota Pereda, Fantasia Film Festival, Film Festivals, Laura Galan, Piggy, Revenge, Revenge of the bullied, Spanish films
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