Review of 7 Boxes (2012) by Sarfaraz A — 27 Mar 2014

7 Cajas (7 Boxes) - low-budget Paraguayan Spanish-language thriller film. Directed by Juan Carlos Maneglia (also writer of the film) and Tana Schémbori. Based on true story, set in Asunción (Capital and largest city of Paraguay). Starring Celso Franco as 'Victor' in lead. It was nominated for Best Spanish Language Foreign Film at Goya Awards.

17-year old Victor (Celso Franco) is wheelbarrow-drawer in bustling market of Asunción (Paraguay) - fetching merchandize goods of shoppers and shop-owners to their destinations. Victor's elder sister 'Tamara' (Nelly Davalos - who works as kitchen assistant at small Korean restaurant) - shows Victor a camera-cum-movie-recording cellular-phone (mind it, the film is set in 2005 - when camera-mobiles where phenomenon). Victor gets obsessed with this latest technology and decides to make out ways to get his very own mobile. Victor is given a job by local butcher to deliver 7 boxes to certain destination and wait for his calls for further instructions - for this Victor is given half paper of $100 U.S. bill as surety, as well as camera-less mobile phone (to be contacted on).

Victor is chased by another wheelbarrow-drawer 'Nelson' (Victor Sosa) - Nelson's infant son is in desperate need for insulin for which he needs enough money to buy the syringe. Nelson has arrived quite late to have claimed the delivery of 7-boxes. Nelson hires other goons (wheelbarrow-drawers) to capture Victor, even if it requires killing anyone in between. The police has also escalated their search-operation after a woman has gone disappeared. It is revealed that the boxes contain mutilated body parts of that woman. What follows next, is the cat and mouse chase all throughout the night in the congested streets of the locality.

7 Cajas is real-life story. Editing is marvelous - as the other part of the story is being narrated by butcher, the second half is shown simultaneously, giving us insight on the background of the story. These somewhat starlets, have shown promising capability at acting. Crisscrossing in the film - each character is interlocked with the other (too few characters - and I actually liked the conversation and brief humorous talks between police, Tamara, Korean, and especially she-male who could not stop at praising the camera-recording feature of mobile).

I believe this story in the sense that the film is already set in an era when mobile phones were becoming fascination for the youth and adult alike. In parts of Pakistan, mobile-snatching is still the major incident considered (most cases cost lives for people who resist - motorbike drivers snatch away your mobile - they could stop you as if asking for some direction and later draw their gun at you). So no doubt for mobile phones, I have seen murders taking place here.

But I don't know if it was rather mistake, or that Nelson was too naïve that he not rob the pharmacy-store at the night - since he could kill few people to get hold of the boxes (thinking the boxes contain money), and hiring lethal team to capture Victor.