Continuing our coverage for Fantasia 2016 (Currently running in Montreal all the way till August 3rd), we just saw “White Coffin” (Original title: “Ataud Blanco: El Juego Diabolico»), a film from Argentina that grabs your attention from the start with a very simple premise, and manages to keep you at the edge of your seat all the way until the credits roll. The movie never pulls any punches to remind us that the cruelest of the beasts can be man itself, and that there are things worse than death.

In this film we meet Virginia, a mother that just left her husband, and that after a careless act, finds herself in a race against time to rescue her daughter from some twisted individuals that plan to sacrifice the child in a pagan ritual. Having only some vague directions from a mysterious stranger as clues, Virginia discover much to her terror, that she is not the only one in this frantic search, and that in order to save her daughter, she will have to leave her moral limits on the side, otherwise both will be dead by sunset.

I enjoyed this film very much, and to say more about the plot it would be a crime. Being the premise of “White Coffin” as simple as I described above, in my opinion it works like a charm due good acting, a fast and steady pace, and that the story does not shy way in order to not offend sensibilities when is time to show how cruel and F-up some people can be just because they can. Although there were many opportunities, the film never fell into scenes of extreme gratuitous violence, nor tried to shock the audience with cheap tricks, instead tried (successfully) to put us in the shoes of some of the characters and seriously ask ourselves: Would we do anything different in order to save our loved ones?

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