Underplayed Gems

Apio Verde (2013)

Apio Verde poster
Directed by
Francesc Morales
Genre
horror film
Country
Chile
Runtime
1h 22m
Rating
6.7 of 10 from 20 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A pregnant woman is told the child she is carrying has a fatal condition and will not survive birth. As therapeutic abortion is illegal in Chile, she must carry the pregnancy to term. The film follows her psychological struggle as she becomes increasingly unstable.

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What happens

Apio verde is 2013 Chilean thriller film written and directed by Francesc Morales, starring Catherine Mazoyer, Cristian Gajardo, Catalina Aguayo, Sonia Mena, Teresita Reyes, Alejandro Trejo, Gregory Cohen, Jenny Cavallo, Carolina Paulsen, among others. The film focuses on how a normal woman is turned into a psychotic as she's told the child she's expecting has anencephaly, a disease that won't allow him to live once he's born. As she lives in Chile, one of the few countries where therapeutic abortion is illegal in any situation, she must wait until the natural birth. The film was released in Chile in July 2013. Morales said recently to Screen International: “This is a very real situation that has happened many times in our country. Since 1989, a few months before the end of the Chilean dictatorship, it was stated that therapeutic abortion would be considered illegal, not even when the life of the mother is in danger. The realism is very important in this film, which is why the story is based on the lives of many real people and it also shows how politics and religion get involved in a subject like this. Yet the movie is not a drama, but a thriller that states how this is not only an attempt on human rights but also a situation that always leads to a violent resolution.” (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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