Writer-director Pablo Fendrik’s “Mesopotamic western” is heavy on atmosphere, light on plot – a revenge narrative with an eco-friendly twist. Gael García Bernal is Kaí, a Pale Rider (think Charles Bronson meets Mowgli) who emerges from the Argentinian jungle to save Alice Braga’s kidnapped Vania after machete-wielding mercenaries pillage her home. At one with nature (the “manimal” analogy is overworked), Kía helps Vania to turn the tables on these beasts, climaxing in a cod-Leone showdown replete with mission bell sound effects and Straw Dogs-style homemade mantraps.
While the visuals are arresting and the locations haunting, Fendrik’s portentous fable lacks much in the way of credible character development – a viny romance between Kaí and Vania seems more a strategic addition than an organic thread. Some crunchy action adds blood but not meat.
