How do you make a witch hunt, and to what end? So asks writer-director David Hebrero’s EVERYONE WILL BURN (Y TODOS ARDERÁN), which recently made its North American premiere at this year’s Fantastic Fest. Written with Javier Kiran, EVERYONE WILL BURN digs deep into the underbelly of polished small towns and the ostracizing that keeps such towns afloat. How could they function without someone to prod at, some Other to cast as the enemy in their day-to-day drama? Every story needs a villain, and every insular town believes itself to be the center of the greatest story ever told.
María José (brilliantly brought to life by the incomparable Macarena Gomez) is her small town’s pariah. Her son’s tragic death has brought her to the edge of sanity, teetering toward the depths. When her suicide attempt is stopped by a mysterious girl she later dubs Lucía (Sofía García), the secrets and paranoias of the town all come bubbling up. Will vengeance for her son Lolo’s death help María heal? Is she the key to a mysterious prophecy her town believes will be its undoing? What is Lucía doing here, and where did she come from? Leaving a shocking trail of violence in her wake, María ponders and subsequently dismisses each of these questions as she descends further and further into what seems like madness.
Neither small towns nor big cities know how to process difference from the accepted norm, but it is perhaps most dangerous in small towns. María’s son was divergent enough to have been bullied to death. Lucía is abnormal enough to be immediately considered a harbinger of doom. María herself is soon considered not just mad but downright panic-mob-inducingly dangerous. But when you get below the surface into the meat of the story, the true face of villainy is revealed, and it is both more complex than and exactly as simple as it always is. Lucía is powerful in exactly the way her enemies fear; it is her intent and use of her powers that complicate matters. Her gentle guiding of María into the bright and fiery world of vengeance is equally tragic and empowering. In a town that feels no shame for its actions, what more effective way is there than to fight fire with fire when all they respond to is violence?
EVERYONE WILL BURN is a visual feast, with a particular standout performance from Macarena Gomez. It hearkens back to Halsey’s recent album-companion film, IF I CAN’T HAVE LOVE I WANT POWER in darkly beautiful ways, though the two are, of course, entirely unrelated. Still, the emerging trend of powerful women cast into the shadows of ostracizing and embracing powerful magic to help them achieve that which is denied them in day to day life, taking what they want no matter how unruly it makes them seem, is more than welcome in my eyes. Every frame is lush with atmosphere thanks to both Ona Isart’s cinematography and Patricia Parejo’s costume design. Even in its moments of greatest simplicity, the air of dread never leaves viewers minds, yet we find ourselves sympathizing with María and her pain, and her path, as more and more of the darkness of her hometown and personal history are revealed.
The saying goes that “revenge is a dish best served cold,” yet EVERYONE WILL BURN sets out to prove that nothing burns brighter or more effectively than a mother determined to ensure she and her son are never forgotten by a town who wishes to brush them under the rug. There is no shame in righteous rage; only untapped power.
Tags: David Hebrero, Everyone Will Burn, Fantastic Fest, Fantastic Fest 2022, Film Festivals, Halsey, If I Can't Have Love I Want Power, Javier Kiran, Macarena Gomez, Ona Isart, Patricia Parejo, Sofia Garcia, Witchcraft
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