We Are What We Are Review by Justin Bateman

A death in the family is always a tragedy. When it’s the father on whom the whole family relies for food, there are practical difficulties to add to the emotional turmoil. But when the family in question are cannibals and the food is other human beings, it takes on a whole new level of difficult. This is the premise for We Are What We Are, a Mexican film which I’m sure should have been called We Are What We Eat. Then again, I’d have probably insisted on a finger buffet at every screening and made a slew of offal puns.

It’s hard (for me at least) not to be flippant about a film about cannibalism but in the case of We Are What We Are it’s unfair. With the patriarch dead, it is left to the rest of the family – his widow Patricia (Beato) and teenage children, the eldest but shy Alfredo (Barreiro), steadfast Sabina (Gaitán) and temperamental Julian (Chávez) to figure out how to find their next meal. With Patricia locking herself in her room, there is no obvious leader and despite her warnings not to, the boys head out to find a victim. Meanwhile, an autopsy on their father reveals an undigested woman’s finger in his stomach. This is given to a pair of ambitious cops who set about solving the crime and preventing further cannibalism.

Although the very idea of eating other people is abhorrent and thus places this instantly into ‘horror’ territory, this is really the story of a family coming to terms with tragedy. Of course, by any reasonable standards what they do is horrific but such is the characterisation and writing by director Grau that it’s hard not to feel empathy, sympathy even at times with this unusual family. The question of who is to become the leader is of particular importance with regard to carrying out the ritual – the history and details of which are sensibly left unexplained. As with a lot of the best storytelling, plot is show or implied rather than told explicitly and for the most part this is a slow, quiet and reflective film. This not only reveals character slowly but also builds tension beautifully.

Francisco Barreiro is excellent as the troubled Alfredo while the understated Gaitan shows that her turn in the equally impressive Sin Nombre was no flash in the pan. Meanwhile, Carmen Beato somehow manages to act and look exactly like someone who would eat you as quick as look at you, which is scary in itself. The bloody violence is used sparingly which makes it all the more shocking when it does arrive. And yet there are moments of black comedy laced through the horror that lighten the tone without ruining the carefully constructed atmosphere. We Are What We Are is both an effective horror and a touching study of grief – a rare combination and a film worth seeking out.