TIFF 2021 Review: The Hole in the Fence (El hoyo en la cerca)

The Hole in the Fence (El hoyo en la cerca) (Joaquín del Paso, 2021) is a dramatic thriller. A joint production between Mexico, Poland, and Switzerland, it was written by Joaquín del Paso and Fernanda de la Peza. It was directed by Joaquín del Paso.

The Los Pinos school, somewhere in Mexico, hosts an annual retreat for boys. The school is strictly religious, although exactly what religion or denomination thereof is never specified. Each summer, a collection of boys, presumably the children of the rich and powerful elite arrive at the camp for a summer’s worth of intense religious and moral training.

The boys are told never to go into the neighboring town, and in an effort to keep them inside, the camp is surrounded by a chain link fence. During a trip around the perimeter of the grounds, the boys discover the hole, become alarmed, and try to determine who or what made the hole. The boys are warned by one of the patriarchs to stay away.

A number of violent hazing incidents takes place over the course of the summer. One such event causes one of the boys, Diego (Eric David Walker), to seize an opportunity to climb through the hole, and sneak off into the surrounding forest. His departure sets off a disturbing chain of events whose ramifications last long after the boys have returned home once the summer ends.

The Hole in the Wall is a disturbing portrayal of the dark side of religion gone unchecked. The film starts off in a fairly unassuming manner. It kind of positions itself as just a coming-of-age movie about a boys summer camp. As it progresses, it brings some of the heavier films of that ilk to mind. Immediately, I was seeing shades of Lord of the Flies (Peter Brook, 1963), Lord of the Flies (Harry Hook, 1990) and Bless the Beasts and Children (Stanley Kramer, 1971). However, by the film’s conclusion, it was bringing to mind more alarming fare like Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolioni, 1975), The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973) and Jesus Camp (Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, 2006)

What the true message of The Hole in the Fence is will likely become the subject of debate. That is, unless the filmmakers themselves come forward to put a fine point on it. My takeaway from the film might differ from yours. A cursory glance at some of the reactions on the internet has revealed that others have taken something slightly different from the film than I did. My impression of the film is that The Hole in the Fence is an absolutely scorching indictment of organized religion, indoctrination of youth, and the negative dividends that it pays forward in terms of its heinously corrosive impact on society.

The Hole in the Fence starts off quite uncomfortably. Its depiction of the cruelty and malevolence that children are capable of, particularly when the adults in charge turn a blind eye to it. The performances are all superb, and the filmmakers so nailed the subject matter, it had me thinking about school, and my own childhood in a way that was upsettingly authentic. However, once the film moves along to showing the calculation behind the way these children are conditioned and indoctrinated, it became unsettling and infuriating. I was no longer comparing the events of the film to the days of yore, but rather to the modern day, and the times in which we currently live.

The film is as successful a portrait of the potential atrocities of youth just as much as it is a reflection of the shitty, shitty times in which we currently exist. How the two things are not mutually exclusive, and how these cycles of violence, oppression, and intolerance will continue to pay themselves forward, unless a conscious effort is made to break the cycle. Unfortunately, human beings are base, selfish, awful, small-minded creatures. Too few of whom would rather maintain the status quo, even if they were introspective enough to realize that we, as a society, a global society, have a major fucking problem on our hands.

By the time this thing ended I was so pissed off (not at the film, but by its events) that I had to get up and pace back and forth in my living room for a while. Following which, I went jogging for around an hour so that I could blow off the steam of fury that had accumulated within me. Because in the film, just like in real life, the things that I wanted to see happen; the happy end that I was pining so hard for, was nowhere to be found.

It’s kind of like getting drunk. I’m depressed before I do it, but then once drunk, I’m on cloud fuckin’ 9. My rapture continues as I continue my liquid journey up to the top of the mountain. For a little while, my problems, and indeed, the problems of the world don’t seem quite so bad, so insurmountable. Alas, every journey must come to an end, even the most enjoyable ones. When mine eventually does, in the wee hours of the next morning, the weight of all of my, and indeed, the world’s problems comes crashing through the dissipating haze of my inebriation, crushing me with the weight of their impending reality, guaranteeing that there will be no real sleep this night. That’s pretty much how this film concludes.

The Hole in the Fence is a true horror film for the current day. Impeccably scored, acted, shot, written, and directed, it was as impressive as it was disheartening. Even though I never want to hear from them again, I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for de la Peza and del Paso. They have certainly won this guy over.