Throughout cinema, there have been a bevy of plots revolving around individuals whose humanity got pushed to their limits, teetering good people to lash out at a world that brought them harm, heartache, and loss. Societally fractured characters like Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, D-Fens played by Micheal Douglas in Falling Down, and most recently in Unhinged with Russel Crowe, have brought to light how even the seemingly-everyday person can become a raging villain when their deeper aggression is left unchecked. Argentinian writer/director Mariano Cohn crafts a savvy, almost polarizing, take on the concept of “man on the brink” with his latest film, 4X4. Co-written by Gastón Duprat, 4X4 illuminates such a character through the glaze of his victim in this broodingly effective thriller set in the crime-riddled streets of Argentina.
When Ciro, a lowly car thief played by Peter Lanzani, breaks into an SUV parked on the city street, he thinks this will be an easy score. That is until the tables are turned against him when he finds that he has been locked in with no hope for escape. The body and windows of the vehicle, named Predator, are bulletproof and soundproof with ultra-dark window tints, hiding his presence from the busy neighborhood outside. Ciro tries every trick in the book to exit the vehicle, including shooting his way out, only resulting in making matters worse for himself in the form of a soon to be festered gunshot wound to his leg. With the heat rising inside the SUV and no food or water, Ciro finds himself at the mercy of the owner who speaks to him through the vehicle’s built-in phone; a seemingly normal doctor named Enrique Ferrari played with a subtle menace by Dady Brieva, who decides to make an example of the young car thief for all the times he had been victimized throughout his life. What follows is a tense game of cat-and-mouse as Ciro tries to find a way out of the impenetrable allurement crescendoing to an intense, morality questioning, finale.
A Bottle Neck Of Insecurity
The film starts with a montage of security cameras, neighborhood watch posters, and barbwire fences set up around this impoverished community, setting a backdrop of daily life on the block where the action takes place. The viewer is thrust into an almost terrarium-like diorama of the fear and caution one must feel living within this world. Everyday folks looking over their shoulders almost becomes a norm, developing the neighborhood as a character all its own.
What makes 4X4 so effective stems from both the clever means in which the trap is set for the main character, but more so in the questions raised as the film meticulously unfolds for both leads. Ciro, being captive in plain view of the very neighborhood he helped to dilapidate through his actions as a petty thief, is forced to bear witness to a multitude of crimes happening all around his automotive prison. He watches as the residents living there are held captive by muggers and degenerates, played day and night on a loop he is unable to stop watching. He begins to memorize the daily goings-on and the lengths everyone in the community endures just to survive. This forced catharsis takes a toll on the psyche of the man who never thought about anything but his own survival through criminality.
The flip side to this is presented by the slow burn of malice Enrique inflicts on Ciro for days on end, punishing a culprit/victim who eventually becomes a mere representation of the multiple ills perpetrated upon him throughout his lifetime. Twenty-seven to be exact. In Enrique’s mind, what he is doing is heroic, almost poetic, in its vindictiveness. He is righting the wrongs of the world through the example made by only one of the many who bright pain to his doorstep, begging the audience to question whether an eye for an eye is truly an answer.
But Who Is The Real Bad Guy?
As the film progresses, the lines begin to blur as to whose, if anyone’s, hands are clean. We learn important backstories of both men and who they truly are at their core. The result of each one is a harsh look at the dichotomy of the other. One, a man who never took the time to realize the harm he does to others while being a product of his environment. The other, a contributing member of society slowly warped by a need to no longer be a victim and regain some semblance of control by taking power back through revenge.
There is so much to unpack at the end of the day. Even in its emotionally charged swan song confrontation, 4X4 allows the world it builds to take part in the end result, brilliantly culminating all of its arguments while still leaving room for further moral conundrums in the potent wake left as the credits roll. To say any more would be a spoiler-riddled disservice to a well-crafted nail-biter.
Conclusion: An Eye For An Eye Makes The Whole World Blind
4X4 takes a simple, original, concept and fleshes out a deviously thoughtful look at humanity and how it handles the woes inflicted upon us. The world-building is tight and purposeful in execution while hiding the true meaning for much of its grippingly powerful runtime. Having sat through so many films like this in the past, the path taken by the filmmakers felt as claustrophobic and uncomfortable as it did meaningful in what it set out to accomplish, never glorifying the act of vengeance as a means to an end but rather a path to our own undoing.
The pain felt by the characters plays with such visceral truth scene by tension ratcheting scene. 4X4 could have been yet another Saw knock-off, torture porn picture made popular by testosterone-driven revenge fantasy edge lords, but instead, the physical pain inflicted feels light in comparison to the mental scars already burdening those involved. Refreshingly, the creators opted for a more cerebral, psychological deep-dive into the participants they penned. Rather than going for the easy black and white notion of good and evil, Cohn and Gastón dissect their characters with poignant thoughtfulness and care much needed in a time when tensions are heightened by the “us versus them” mentality so many tend to take these days.
Is there a film about revenge that you think delves deeper than just the average escapist thriller? Film Inquiry would like to hear from you. Leave your suggestions in the comment section and keep the conversation going.
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