I'm not entirely sure what writer and director (and composer, and producer and cinematographer) Iván Noel exactly wanted to achieve here, but me thinks that he really wanted to make a documentary about the Argentinian fauna & flora or something
"The Returned" exists for approximately 70% - and I'm honestly not exaggerating – of environmental footage. Beautiful footage, admittedly, like the process of xenogamy or the moving of river tides in fast-forward, but footage that is completely irrelevant and even misplaced regarding the harrowing plot synopsis about the mysterious return of three young children after they went missing for a short period. This footage is also always accompanied by stern and penetrating piano music that is far more omnipresent and obtrusive than should ever be the case. Iván Noel actually betrayed himself at the Festival of Fantastic Films in Brussels, where he came to introduce his movie, as he openly stated that he adores composing but that he never finds the right images to go with his music, and thus he almost single-handedly made "The Returned" to make the images match with the music. Fair enough, but that's almost like publicly admitting that the film's subject matter wasn't all that important to him. And it shows
I like piano music and nature footage as much as everyone else, but I'm primarily a film-fanatic (especially when I visit a dedicated festival) and from this point of view "The Returned" is a failure and a big, fat disappointment. The mystery around the vanished trio of children unfolds intolerably slow, the script is full of loose ends and clues that eventually lead nowhere and many things remain unexplained after the climax. The script is full of potentially great ideas, though, but none of them are properly elaborated. The story takes place in a little Northern Argentinian town, where the local kids play at an abandoned hospital built by Nazis that fled right after WWII but wanted to continue Mengele's experiments there. The powerful history and eeriness of this building isn't properly put to use. The little town is also full of corrupt prominent citizens, like the mayor who used government funds to renovate his own mansion or the female judge who deliberately convicted innocent people for crimes committed by others, but also their stories are mere footnotes in the script. The mysteriously returned (and suddenly semi-autistic) children also strangely affect the rest of their class, but we never find out how or why. One little boy all of a sudden becomes a clairvoyant, for example, but he never went missing. And finally, there's the uncanny immigrant school teacher who behaves strangely and preaches supernaturally, but his sub plot also dies rather abruptly. All this to say that "The Returned" definitely contains a handful of compelling moments and suspenseful aspects, but – honestly - the film delivers absolutely nothing. There will probably be a lot of self-acclaimed intellectuals and artistic independent film freaks who claim that this is a true masterpiece with deep underlying messages and social/political statements, but the truth remains that it's a dull and passable film.
I like piano music and nature footage as much as everyone else, but I'm primarily a film-fanatic (especially when I visit a dedicated festival) and from this point of view "The Returned" is a failure and a big, fat disappointment. The mystery around the vanished trio of children unfolds intolerably slow, the script is full of loose ends and clues that eventually lead nowhere and many things remain unexplained after the climax. The script is full of potentially great ideas, though, but none of them are properly elaborated. The story takes place in a little Northern Argentinian town, where the local kids play at an abandoned hospital built by Nazis that fled right after WWII but wanted to continue Mengele's experiments there. The powerful history and eeriness of this building isn't properly put to use. The little town is also full of corrupt prominent citizens, like the mayor who used government funds to renovate his own mansion or the female judge who deliberately convicted innocent people for crimes committed by others, but also their stories are mere footnotes in the script. The mysteriously returned (and suddenly semi-autistic) children also strangely affect the rest of their class, but we never find out how or why. One little boy all of a sudden becomes a clairvoyant, for example, but he never went missing. And finally, there's the uncanny immigrant school teacher who behaves strangely and preaches supernaturally, but his sub plot also dies rather abruptly. All this to say that "The Returned" definitely contains a handful of compelling moments and suspenseful aspects, but – honestly - the film delivers absolutely nothing. There will probably be a lot of self-acclaimed intellectuals and artistic independent film freaks who claim that this is a true masterpiece with deep underlying messages and social/political statements, but the truth remains that it's a dull and passable film.