The film charts the escalating conflict from passive-aggressive glances at the local bar to vandalism, intimidation, and finally, an act of horrific, irreversible violence. Sorogoyen does not offer catharsis. He offers a tragedy. The title is a clever trap. Who are the beasts?
5/5 Where to watch: Currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video (international) and Movistar Plus+ (Spain). If you liked this: You must also watch The Hunting Ground (Spain, 2017), Marshland (2014), and The Cow who Sang a Song into the Future (2022). Have you seen As Bestas? Do you think Antoine was right to refuse the wind turbines, or was his intransigence a form of suicide? Share your thoughts in the comments below. as bestas rodrigo sorogoyen
Following the international acclaim of The Realm (2018) and Mother (2019), Sorogoyen pivots from political corruption and real-time grief to a stark, rural fable. What emerges is arguably his most mature, harrowing, and essential work—a film that won nine Goya Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. The title is a clever trap
Sorogoyen is a master of the long take. The film’s infamous ten-minute argument at the village bar plays out in a single, stifling wide shot. We are forced to watch Antoine’s humiliation in real-time, unable to look away as the community’s passive aggression curdles into direct threat. Later, a nighttime chase through a cornfield utilizes disorienting POV shots, turning the familiar rural landscape into a labyrinth. If you liked this: You must also watch
The "beasts" of the title are also literal. The film features graphic scenes of horse slaughter and livestock dismemberment, grounding the violence in the visceral reality of farm life. There is no stylized Tarantino blood here; there is only the sickening crunch of bone and the cold practicality of a bolt gun. Just when you think As Bestas is a simple "city vs. country" revenge thriller, Sorogoyen executes a brilliant tonal shift in the final forty minutes. After the central act of violence (which will not be spoiled here), the narrative focus moves from Antoine to his wife, Olga.
A lucrative deal is on the table. The villagers, struggling with depopulation and an aging demographic, stand to make millions by leasing their land for industrial wind turbines. But Antoine and Olga’s plot is a strategic bottleneck. Without their signature, the entire project collapses.
Marina Foïs delivers a masterclass in transformation. Olga is initially the more timid of the couple—she speaks broken Spanish, she mediates, she pleads for peace. After tragedy strikes, she morphs into a cold, calculating avenger. She does not pick up a gun or a machete. Instead, she weaponizes bureaucracy, law, and language.