Heli

Director Amat Escalante's brutal drama about a hapless family that fatally cross paths with thugs from a Mexican drug cartel was the obligatory talking point at Cannes when it premiered there in 2013. Even more people were scandalised when Escalante went on to win best director at the festival, but as time passes and the shock has worn off, it's easier to see what the jury admired about this deeply disturbing but meticulously crafted work. The title character (Armando Espitia) is an ordinary young man who lives with his family and works in a local car manufacturing plant in the Mexican sticks. When the boyfriend (Juan Eduardo Palacios) of Heli's younger sister (Andrea Vergara) steals some narcotics, it lights the touch paper for the catastrophes to come, including a truly horrible torture sequence not for the faint of heart, and the death of most of Heli's loved ones. However, there are beautiful moments that sing strong and sweet, and an unflinching honesty about the hopeless pervasiveness of crime in Escalante's homeland that's deeply admirable.