Review of Santa Sangre (1989) by Joey S — 19 Feb 2013

Santa Sangre is a surreal, completely unique drama that doesn't always work, but when it does it's almost hypnotic in its strangeness. Despite the hallucinatory visual style and (intentionally) caricatured characters, it tells a relatively straight-forward story that is for the most part, although not always, grounded in reality.

The first half, which is an extended flashback to the traumatic circus childhood of the protagonist Fenix, is much more engaging and interesting than the second half. One scene especially is absolutely heart-rending during this first half, involving the young Fenix witnessing one of the circus elephants dying.

Moments like this are when Santa Sangre works best, because it's able to connect emotionally despite all of its strange imagery and symbolism. Of course there are also some very fun scenes that thrive on weirdness, the best by far being the one in which Fenix's mother catches his father cheating on her with the circus's tattooed woman, with violent results.

The second half of the film seems to sacrifice all of the personal and relatable aspects of the first, opting for strangeness over emotion. The ending redeems this weaker second half very well though.

I obviously won't reveal what the ending is, but I will say it's absolutely bizarre and it involves clowns, puppets, and some serious mommy issues. Santa Sangre is an imperfect film, but even in its weaker moments there is always something to be enjoyed about it, and more often that not it's strangely gripping.