(This critique contains spoilers for the film “The Accused.”)
Several impressive films were featured at FilmFestDC this year, but one film stood out from all the rest. “Acusada” or “The Accused” is a Spanish language film from Argentina, directed by Gonzalo Tobal. This drama/thriller is enthralling from beginning to end and it will leave you on the edge of your seat for the majority of the film. The monotone colors, suspenseful music and marvelous variety of camera angle and movement make this film very worth watching. Not only is it very visually pleasing, but the story is also very well executed.
The film follows a young woman named Dolores who is accused of murdering her best friend. The film begins nice and slow, guiding the viewer through the emotional rollercoaster that Dolores has been feeling since the day of the crime. We get close camera angles and intimate moments between Dolores and her friends as we are introduced to her and the people closest to her. The beginning of the film is set just a few days before the first hearing in court over the murder of her childhood friend. As the story unfolds, we are taken through a thrilling emotional journey with Dolores as she navigates this crisis in her life, all the while trying to keep her family and loyal friends close and save herself from going to prison. At the same time, she faces her own suspicions and doubts about what really happened that day her friend was killed.
For much of the film, we are left wondering who really did it, as well as wondering if Dolores is really guilty or not. There are several instances in the film where it seems probable that Dolores will be found guilty of the brutal crime, but at the same time, we are all rooting for her innocence. “The Accused” is also full of symbolism and social narrative, from the symbolic presence of the puma to the role the media plays in murder cases such as this. The puma symbolizes Dolores’s innocence and how the general public accused her of murder while the truth lay hidden from the public eye, just as the puma could not be found after someone sighted it in town. The role the media plays in this is a direct reference to the role of the media in our society. While the media is so morbidly obsessed with crime, we forget to think about what the accused is going through in this situation and how it is easy for them to lose themselves in the middle of all the indictment. This social narrative is really what drives the story in “The Accused” and welcomes the viewer into the center of Dolores’s confusing and emotional journey.
Overall, I found this film to be very entertaining and thrilling. This is definitely a film worth watching, and the open ending will leave you thinking. The court’s verdict that Dolores is innocent based on lack of evidence is satisfying, but at the same time it leaves the viewer wondering what really happened and who actually committed the murder. Then seeing the puma at the end was the icing on the cake. I rated this film five stars.