Monos
Lord of the Flies meets Apocalypse Now in this chilling and visionary portrait of child soldiers engaged in an unnamed conflict.
Existing at an altitude so high they live above the clouds, a small battalion of youth militia train, eat, sleep and fuck. Their day-to-day activities have made them close, but their interactions remain more primal than familial. Occasionally, they receive a visit from a higher-ranking officer, whose orders never bring them closer to the conflict being waged in the world beneath them. But a fatal accident sets of a series of events that tears them apart.
Alejandro Landes’ powerful drama is a visual feast, creating a strange world out of the barren mountain landscape and the thick jungle canopies beneath it. Mica Levi’s (Under the Skin, Jackie) otherworldly score adds to the strangeness, as the young soldiers’ lives shift from the strict uniformity of training to the chaos of infighting.
★★★★ “A singular, original work of heavy atmosphere, memorable images, exciting action and dream-like logic.” - Ian Freer, Empire
★★★★★ “Apocalypse Now on shrooms” - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
★★★★★ “A hypnotic triumph” - Mark Kermode, The Observer