Review of Piggy (2022) by Marty_Mcfly_Am — 28 Jul 2023

Director Carlota Pereda starts from her homonymous film (a successful short film, winner of the Goya award in 2019), to sign this genre feature film on the theme of inner discomfort and the suffering of feeling the target of insults and cruelty because of one's body.

Sara is a teenager with obesity problems, addressed by some peers like Piggy, who lives with her parents and her younger brother. She is mocked, offended and humiliated at every opportunity because of her physical appearance and she is the victim of body shaming. Until unexpectedly a stranger takes her defense, implementing brutal methods towards the culprits of the insults. Sara (her peers will eventually recognize her a name instead of the epithets with which they have always mocked her only when they find themselves in danger of death), has come close to breaking point after yet another cowardly joke. She then projects her desire for revenge into the figure of the serial killer who does what she would like to be able to do to get rid of a context (even family) that oppresses her beyond bearable. If interpreted in these terms, the film acquires greater depth by working on the contradictions of a protagonist who constantly struggles with herself, fought as she is by a natural instinct for revenge which however conflicts with a fundamentally good personality.

Engaging psychological horror of social denunciation (against bullying, body shaming and in general against the lack of empathy and sensitivity of an increasingly inhuman and violent world).

The film has an interesting visual force and has a good staging, some very successful and effective sequences (the pool scene) and an oppressive atmosphere.

However, writing the script traces minimal portraits without seeking insights into a story and topics that offered multiple nuances and aspects to analyze.

The actress Laura Galan's performance was exceptional in expressing both the discomfort of an obese girl, a victim of marginalization, humiliation and derision; and the emotional contradictions of an internal struggle based on revenge and righteousness.

Net of a writing that needed more depth and more decisive choices in style and narration, this work still remains a discreet portrait of those who suffer discomfort taken to its extreme consequences.

But also a valid educational message: to fight all types of physical and mental discrimination; paying attention to phenomena which, if neglected, could have devastating consequences, especially in a context of marginalization.