Tesis [DVD] [1996]

Alejandro Amenabar's first film Tesis has impressive restrain for a debut, as you might expect from the man who went on to make Open Your Eyes and The Others. It's also the most intelligent consideration of the urban myth of snuff films seen onscreen in recent years. Ana Torrent is a priggish young student writing a thesis on violence in movies and finds out more than she wants to know. From the opening shots of her fascinated attempt to see a suicide victim mashed on the Madrid metro to her ambivalent involvement with Chemo (Fele Martinez)--a sinister nerd, obsessed with collecting dubious videos--and her flirtation with one of their principal suspects, Torrent portrays a traditionally plucky heroine along with her darker, more complicit and self-destructive side. As in his later work, Amenabar achieves maximum terror with minimum effect--dark rooms, gazes averted from torture we never see--because of his rich sense of the complexity of human character. What terrifies us here is the sense of our own demons.

On the DVD: the DVD, which is presented in a 1.85:1 letterboxed video ratio and has Dolby Digital sound, comes with optional English subtitles, an intelligent, if slightly earnest documentary about the making of the film, a filmography, the theatrical trailer and a review article by the excellent Roger Clark. --Roz Kaveney

DVD Special Features: Original theatrical trailer
Interactive menus
Star and Director Filmographies
Scene Selection
'Making of....' Documentary
Poster and artwork Gallery
Roger Clarke Film Notes
World Cinema Trailer Reel

Language: Spanish, Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English
Video Aspect Ratio: Letterboxed 1.85:1

When Angela begins researching her thesis on violence in TV and Cinema she enlists the help of her tutor, Figueroa, who searches through the University library for violent materialfor her to watch. Upon finding Figueroa dead in the University projection room, Angela takes the tape he has been viewing and, too shocked to watch what she glimpses of it, forces herself to play it back with the constrast turned down, only allowing her to hear the blood curdling screams that fill the soundtrack. When a fellow student, Chema, persuades her to view the tape properly, they discover the horrifying truth of what she has in her possession: a "snuff" movie.

Winner of six Spanish Goya Awards, director Alejandro Amenabar's (The Others) debut film is an extraordinary journey into a dark and shocking world that will remain with you for a long time after viewing.