Cocote (2017)

What would you do if the rituals that shape your identity no longer aligned with the faith that defines your present? Cocote follows Alberto, a gardener and evangelical Christian assimilated into the city of Santo Domingo. When his father is murdered, Alberto returns to his rural hometown. Amidst the echoes of chants, rites and religious mournings, lies an ultimatum – slay your father’s killer or dishonor his memory. Director Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias straddles the complexities of the Dominican identity with a sensory masterpiece, juxtaposing Alberto’s modern life and the rural identity he left behind. Arias amalgamates the film’s narrative with an anthropological documentary style by capturing locals in their mourning process. He powerfully alternates between color and black & white cinematography – paralleling Alberto’s internal dissonance. Cocote’s use of raw and dynamic ritualistic lamentations also evokes the visceral rhythms of communal rites, their warmth and allure clashing with the tradition’s macabre demands for retribution. Filmed entirely in the Dominican Republic, Arias offers a rare cinematic window into the cultural-religious frictions between communities in his home country. While the Caribbean is often used as a backdrop in films, Cocote is authentically Dominican – featuring its people and the post-colonial social conflicts as the subject. Bridging the continuous use of hyper-realism with the film’s unorthodox narrative structure, Arias offers a haunting overview of a man’s internal strife.