King of the Hill

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****

The Spanish film King of the Hill (El Rey de la montaña), which I originally reviewed on GreenCine Daily from the Spanish Cinema Now festival, is one of the most disturbing thrillers that I can recall. Because the SCN is rather heavy on genre films (thriller, horror, apocalypse, sci-fi - not to mention prison and terrorism), most of which seem to offer a massive dose of hopelessness, it is difficult not to take this as a comment on the Spanish (maybe European, maybe the whole of western culture) experience at the moment. If not, then coincidence is very heavily at play.

Directed and co-written (with Javier Gullón) by Gonzalo López-Gallego, this is the kind of film that demands to be seen before it is read about (and spoiled). It is bleak. Very bleak.

But because I want to write about it, I must warn you - Spoiler Ahead! - even though I will try to be as subtle as possible in my spoilage. King of the Hill is a "chase" movie that takes its title, appropriately enough, from an old and pretty well-known children's game. It is solidly in the tradition of recent dark European scare films such as Ils (and its crappier and uncredited American remake, The Strangers), Calvaire, À l'intérieur and Frontière(s) - though without anything like the gore quotient of the latter two. That it comes from Spain, the country that also gave us ¿Quién puede matar a un niño? is not, I think, coincidental. Finally, it is yet another variation on one of this genre's favorite - and seminal - film, The Most Dangerous Game.

Interestingly enough, King of the Hill made its debut at the 2007 Toronto film fest. That it has taken this long to "arrive" is, I think, both a tribute and a slap-in-the-face to the darkness at its center. Boasting a very small cast (I counted only seven speaking roles/visible faces), the film grabs you within a couple of minutes (via sex) and then again barely a couple of minutes later, with a bullet. By the finale, when our "hero" asks the question (really more of a plea) "What is this about?" be prepared to go begging. You'll learn something of the answer but not much. The rest will be left to your imagination - which is always more scary than any explanation. I put "hero" in quotes above because, by the end, you can barely use that term for the character played (as usual, very well) by Argentine actor Leonardo Sbaraglia, who lends the film his enormous sensual appeal, talent and willingness to take on all kinds of projects. María Val Verde compliments Sbaraglia well as his nemesis-turned-companion, and Pablo Menasanch, as the younger of two policemen, has the best moment of all. Wounded atop a rocky slope, his face contorted in terror and questioning, he mirrors perfectly what viewers and characters alike are in for from this dark, nasty and unforgettable little thriller.