If you have 75 minutes to spare, I think you should watch the 2018 Chilean stop-motion animated film La casa lobo (The Wolf House).
The Wolf House is the feature film debut of director-writer-cinematographers Cristobal Léon and Joaquín Cociña. The story is inspired by Colonia Dignidad, a post-WWII cult formed by German Nazis in Chile under Pinochet’s military dictatorship. The cult was exposed for several crimes, including kidnapping, torture, and child abuse. It is in this dark context that the film’s story begins, opening with a charming advertisement for “La Colonia” that melts into the haunting fairytale of a young girl named María fleeing punishment by the colony. Yet as she attempts to build a sanctuary with two little pigs she finds in an abandoned house, the Wolf remains an ever-present figure at the door.
Rather than utilizing traditional character models or 3D animation, The Wolf House is a living, breathing entity caught somewhere between reality and nightmare. An actual house serves as the set, with the characters painted onto the walls and springing to life from the floors, transitioning between painting, puppets, and sculpture in a display of skill that can only be described as disorienting. The house and the characters visibly breathe and evolve; in a world where mainstream art and animation are prided on cleanliness, the chaotic evidence of human touch is all the more impactful.
The Wolf House is an unsettling but powerful commentary on propaganda, psychological manipulation, and the cycle of abuse. It is not an easy film to watch, especially once you are aware of its historical context… but once you take the plunge, you may find it difficult to look away from its darkness.
