Piggy is one of those movies that anyone who ever was bullied growing up delights in because the bullies get their just desserts. In Carrie, when the gym teacher falls victim to the titular character’s wrath at the prom, I felt it was justifiable. She had just as much to do with the events than the mean girls who tormented Carrie. Sometimes when you think you’re doing the right thing, you’re doing the wrong thing.
There is a similar character in Piggy or Cerdita in its Spanish title. Sara (Laura Galan) is a teenager who is obese. She is the subject of ridicule by her peers. And we find out even her parents, especially her mother, Asun (Carmen Machi), is part of the problem as well. Her father, Tomas (Julian Valcarcel), is a little more sympathetic. They own a butcher shop in the small town which has been losing business to the supermarket.
One day, Sara decides to go down to the swimming pool where the other teens and everyone hangs out, after helping her father at the shop. Yet, she she’s there, everyone is gone. She initially thinks she’s the only one there but there is a man (Richard Holmes) who pops out of the water. Wearing a bikini and her body weight on full display, she gets in the water but soon hears taunts from the teens led by Maca (Claudia Salas), Roci (Camille Aguilar) and even Claudia (Irene Ferreiro) who was friendly to her earlier.
She tries to hide under the water, missing seeing the body of the lifeguard. When she comes back up from the water, Maca throws a pool net pole over her head and tries to make her go down in the water. The man notices this as he walks away. Maca stops messing with her but her and the rest take her clothes, towel and personal bag. Frustrated and sad, Sara walks home in her bikini only to be taunted more by a car driven by some young men. She runs off on a side road where she doesn’t initially notice a parked van.
But in the parked van are the Maca, Claudia and Roci. As it drives by, Sara sees Claudia in the back window and the man stops and looks at her. He throws her a towel and then drives off. Sara returns home shocked deciding not to tell anyone but soon word reaches that the body of the lifeguard was found at the swimming pool. Asun more or less keeps pressuring Sara for answers on why she hasn’t answered her phone, but Sara doesn’t want her to know it was taken, and if she was at the pool or not.
There’s a lot of people who might ask why Sara doesn’t just come out and say what she saw, when pressured by Asun, other adults and even the Civil Guard. Yet, one member of the Guard previously saw her returning from the direction of the pool and asked if she was okay. I think it’s because Sara feels that the kidnapped girls got what they deserved. And that’s what’s so creepy about this movie. There’s also a sense that the man wouldn’t have kidnapped them if they didn’t taunt her and try to endanger her life.
In a earlier scene, the lifeguard is shown being a jerk, so it’s possible the man only targets people he deems are rude or bad people, which is why he lets Sara go when she can clearly see Claudia pleading for help. No, Sara seems to be more interested in finding her phone. And even though Asun is very forceful around Sara, when word gets around Maca, Roci and Claudia are missing, Asun is quick to defend Sara from the accusations of others. At one point, Claudia’s mother, Elena (Pilar Castro) arrives at their house asking a lot of questions which Asun is quick to defend Sara and demand Elena leave.
Writer/director Carlota Pereda who expanded the movie from her 2019 short film Cerdita manages to evenly show the divide between dark comedy and pure horror. I was surprised to discover Galan is 37. But the way she carries herself and acts, she looks more like a teenager. There’s just something funny about a Gen Zer like Sara being more concerned about finding her missing phone with a mobile app than people who have made her youth horrible. I remember years ago upon hearing someone who was a bully to me died in a car crash and to be honest, I didn’t feel any sympathy, even though people had said he had changed.
And even when people are searching for the teens and a missing waitress from the pool area, Sara finds herself getting friendly with Pedro (Jose Pastor), a friend of the missing teens. It’s like when people’s behaviors change when they aren’t around certain people. I guess the need to be accepted into a clique sometimes make young people, or people in general, behave a certain way. Ask yourself, what’s the difference between Maca and Elena, who forms her own search party that turns into bullies?
I won’t say what happens in the third and final act but horror fans won’t be disappointed as Sara will have to confront the strange man and discover what has happened to the missing teens. If anything else, this movie might make people think about being a little kinder and nicer to everyone.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 