Almamula [Carnal Sins] **** (2023, Nicolás Díaz, María Soldi, Cali Coronel, Martina Grimaldi, Luisa Lucía Paz, Beto Frágola, Tania Darchuk, Adrián Ramallo) – Classic Movie Review 13,976

The 2023 Argentine drama film Almamula [Carnal Sins] stars Nicolás Díaz as a troubled teenage boy relocated by his parents to the apparent safety of a rural village, where he battles a monster in the woods.

Director Juan Sebastián Torales’s 2023 Argentine drama film Almamula [Carnal Sins] stars Nicolás Díaz as a troubled teenage boy relocated by his parents to the apparent safety of a rural village, where he battles a monster in the woods. While spending the summer with his family away from the dangers of the city, he hears of the ancient Argentine folklore legend of a mythological creature that takes sinners. Instead of staying away from the woods, and obeying his parents and his priest, he gives way to his impulses, rejects God, longs for the almamula creature to take him away, and experiences a sexual awakening.

This is a thoughtful, sensitive, beautifully crafted art film, treading carefully but firmly in dangerous ground. Like the hero Nino, writer/ director Juan Sebastián Torales boldly goes, proposing the victory of sex over religion, clear truth over repressive fantasies. It is a tale of liberation, subtle as it goes along, disturbing and provocative too, but with clear metaphors, images and messages, all compelling and persuasive. The film looks an eye-catching treat too, with imaginatively moody photography by Ezequiel Salinas of the rural area. Nice score too, by Matteo Locasciulli.

Nicolás Díaz is a lovely little hero. The determination in his bespectacled eyes shows that nothing is going to stop him. María Sold is excellent too, as the mother. She has determination in her eyes too (Nino must have inherited that from her) but not as much determination as the boy has. Growing up in this superstitious, ultra-religious environment must be darn near impossible, but director Torales shows it is still possible to end fear and oppression and break free, with enough determination and courage. It’s a call to arms. There’s no such thing as Carnal Sins. Don’t listen to your parents or your priest. Set off into the dark woods, and discover the creature there, embrace it.

Nicolás Díaz stars as the lonely ‘different’14-year old Nino lives with his family in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, and he is exploring his awakening sexuality. He is Nino No Friends. Nino is the a victim of a homophobic attack, beaten up by the other kids and dumped in a truck full of toads. His parents (María Soldi, Cali Coronel) decide to leave the city temporarily to protect him, and the family moves to a farm house near a conservative small, rural town in northern Argentina. The place is surrounded by the “monte”, a humid dark forest where his father works.

Nino feels guilty about his sexuality and bad about upsetting his family, though his 16-year old sister Natalia (Martina Grimaldi) is merciless to him. His distraught, religious mother Estela/ Elsa (María Soldi) wants to put Nino back on the right track via religion and organises his confirmation in the local church with the smug priest (Adrián Ramallo), who conducts a series of ‘thou shalt not’ classes. His older, withdrawn father (Cali Coronel)) is too busy cutting down trees to share any time with Nino. His smothering mother blames the distant father for the boy’s homosexual feelings and impulses (the boy’s not growing up ‘manly’ enough) when if anyone is to blame (and no one is of course) it is she.

But Nino finds a new friend, a potentially dangerous, certianly exciting one. He hears about the legend of a mysterious creature called the Almamula that haunts the “monte” and takes with it anyone who has committed sexually reprehensible acts. Another boy has supposedly just been taken away by the almamula after disappearing in the woods. Nino starts interesting himself in some of the local workmen, but the priest’s sermons show Nino that his sexuality is not acceptable in the eyes of God.

His approaching confirmation weighs heavily on him, while his fascination for the Almamula, who he thinks would accept his sins, grows. Though obsessed by images of the naked Christ on the cross, Nino instead begins to pray to the Almamula, seeing it as a way of salvation, and goes in search of the creature, to be taken by it. Nino is starting to find his own way through the woods, where he has been warned never to go.

The film is inspired by Torales’s childhood experiences growing up in a conservative environment: ‘I wanted to reinterpret this legend and understand why it was created. Like many things invented by the Catholic church, the Almamula was created to erase everything they considered immoral or a menace. Almamula doesn’t tell the story of the monster that lives in the forest, but of the monster that we, as human beings, created around sexuality, and how all that is different sometimes scares us.’

The film premiered on 18 February 2023 at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival. So far, this very special film hasn’t received the praise or recognition it deserves.

© Derek Winnert 2026 Classic Movie Review 13,976

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