“EL ORDEN DE LAS COSAS” BY THE ALENDA BROTHERS

"El orden de las cosas" is a Spanish short film, written, directed and produced by the brothers César and José Esteban Alenda, it was released in 2010 with the aim of denouncing the situation suffered by millions of women through gender violence. It stars Manuela Vellés as Júlia, Junio Valverde as Marquitos, Biel Duran i Pascual as Marcos, Javier Gutierrez as a middle-aged Marcos and Mariano Venancio as an elderly Marcos. This short was nominated to a Goya in 2011.

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This short film uses the search of a belt to unfold a story related to gender violence. It is a very special belt to which he has a lot of connection since it has been used throughout the different family generations. Marcos tells Júlia, who is inside the bathtub, to help him with the search but she doesn’t respond.  From the bathtub, Julia witnesses Marquitos growing up as he helps his father to find the belt until he becomes an adult. He seems fed up with the situation and leaves home forever. After leaving home, Marquitos tries to call Júlia to raise awareness on her about the situation in which she is trapped since she is with Marcos, but he doesn’t want her to talk to Marquitos. However, she has the courage to pick up the phone. And while we hear Marquitos on the other end of the phone yelling at his mother to get out of there, the water level drops, revealing Julia's body full of bumps and bruises, until the bathtub is almost empty. The bell rings. Marcos' sister and brother along with their respective partners come in and together they help an embarrassed Marcos to find the belt and blame Julia for everything that happens and for her stubbornness. The time goes on and Marcos gets older, but he is still searching for the belt. One day, after Marcos threatens Júlia, she decides to show him the belt. Then, the water level starts raising and Marcos pulls the belt with all his strength. Suddenly a tear from Julia smashes against the surface of the water, making it overflow. Julia, finally, screams like she hadn't done in her entire life. The water in the bathtub overflows like a waterfall, rapidly flooding the bathroom. Marcos grabs and pulls on the belt, but it is hooked to the bottom of the tub. The bathroom ends up flooding, along with Marcos and Julia. Finally she swims to the surface of the water and enters a light and Marcos remains deep down, attached to the belt. Julia emerges from the water. She looks in all directions, she is in the middle of the ocean and her figure is getting smaller and smaller until it disappears into the immensity of the sea. She leaves the bathtub on the shore and walks leaving her footsteps back.

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The direction of the film is out of the ordinary. The work made by the Alenda brothers is simply fantastic. The fact that they have achieved to portray a gender violence story without any type of physical violence is amazing. A powerful performance of the thespian makes you feel their story, so, when Júlia is on screen you can feel the same as her, It’s like you could be in the skin of all of them and know what they are feeling in different moments. The soundtrack is perfect for the audience and the absorbing score makes you travel into the story. And last but not least, the best part of the film, the setting. It makes the film brutally thought-provoking, every detail has a special meaning. The belt represents the male privilege that has persisted throughout all the generations among Marcos family. The plane represents the ignorance of their son Marquitos, when it breaks up, he realises that his mum is being abused. The bath represents the isolation of the victim in the relationship. The water level means the different phases of the evil cycle, when it increases, the situation it’s near an explosion and when it decreases, it’s near the remorse phase. Finally we have the sea and the shore, which represent the liberation and the overcome of that fatal relationship.

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This short film is a must-see, an absolute audience-pleaser. The fact that every detail has a background, and you can think about its meaning is astonishing for me. The story of a relationship which is laid to waste since the first moment of the film "The Order of Things" is a short film about hope. A false hope that is present in almost all these type of relationships, and reflects on how a decision made on time can make us start a new life that is surely better. This film by the Alena brothers has made me feel so pleased. For me it’s an absolute worthwhile watch which makes you reflect about gender violence in our lives and all what it entails. I would definitely recommend watching this film and on a scale from zero to ten I’d give it a nine.