Alice Oscura – Featured Writer
Warning: Parental Guidance Advised & Minor Spoilers ahead
The Crimes That Bind is a 2020 Argentinian crime drama released on Netflix, and is not to be confused with the 2018 Japanese drama/thriller of the same name. It was directed by Sebastián Schindel and written by Schindel and Pablo Del Teso.
In the film Alicia (Cecilia Roth) is unconvinced that her son Daniel (Benjamin Amdeo) is capable of the rape and abuse of his ex-girlfriend Marcela (Sofía Gala Castiglione) with whom he has a son named Martin. She has a very loving relationship with her live-in maid Gladys’s (Yanina Ávila) son Santi, who absolutely adores Alicia and calls her Auntie. The family seems to be living comfortably enough, but when Daniel is arrested Alicia’s life turns upside down. When her maid does something so terrible that she is arrested and put on trial and begins having doubts about her son’s innocence.
I have to say this one is super choppy, and the pacing is all over the place. Like most caring mothers Alicia’s love is unconditional and she is willing to do anything for her offspring. But it totally sucks when you begin to realize that said offspring is an absolute monster. How do you turn your back on someone that you gave birth to and raised? And how do you live with yourself over the guilt of where did you wrong? Sometimes a bad seed is just a bad seed.
There are some extremely sensitive topics dealt with in this movie and if you are super squeamish you might want to stay away. But, for the sake of mystery, it was not handled smoothly enough to maintain the intrigue. When all is revealed it is super anti-climatic and the ending, although it does give you that minimum sense of closure with the main character Alicia trying to right the wrongs, you are kind of left wondering is this really enough?
Her son leaves quite the damage in his wake and she does not get proper support from her husband Ignacio (Miguel Ángel Solá) for no particular reason at all other than the fact that he seems tired of the situation. Really? After being married for so long? He comes out as nothing more than window dressing at this point.
I felt like the lead character got a bit of crappy deal and I also got the impression that the film seems to be incomplete in the sense that there is something missing in the translation. On a bit further research the back story of Gladys, her maid, seems to be glossed over and I blame Netflix for this. Gladys’s story is extremely influential in her disastrous decision that causes her to become incarcerated. When said event occurs, you are like what? Did I miss something? Huh?
There is nothing much left to say other than the fact that you can skip out on this one. It is a big bleh from me. But if this were to be written as a novel with more character building and details it would probably make for some interesting reading.
Rating: 4 out of 10
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Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump.
I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. You can find me as Dark Alice Reviews on Facebook, my Instagram is alice_oscura and my Twitter handle is @lise_veliz2. For more on me you can click here.