Under the Salt (Bajo la Sal)

(2008) ***

Someone is murdering young women in the small town of Santa Rosa de la Sal. As the story unfolds the latest victim is found in the town’s immense salt mine. Enter commandante Trujillo, a fallen from grace cop who wishes to earn his reputation back. As he begins interviewing the quirky denizens of Santa Rosa de la Sal he discovers that all of the victims attended the same high school.



Trujillo’s investigation eventually leads to Victor, an emo 16-year old kid with a fetish for horror movies and the macabre. Victor lost his mother when he was young and is estranged from his absentee father. He works in his father’s funeral parlor after school and before long is placed on Trujillo’s growing list of suspects. The film gives us occasional peaks into Victor’s psyche via a series of violent stop-motion animations that he likes to create in his spare time. The story follows Trujillo and Victor as they separately try to solve the whodunit mystery in order to gain closure on past hurts.



Under the Salt is a serial killer procedural film, which means that we follow a detective around as he conducts interviews and looks for evidence. This might sound interesting but it is often tedious. At one point Whirlygirl turned to me and observed, “We’ve been watching this for 55 minutes and so far nothing has happened.” With quirky characters and an “everything is not as it seems” attitude, Under the Salt seems to be going for a Twin Peaks feel.

Victor never has any luck with women

Although beautifully atmospheric, there is such a thing as too much atmosphere and the film suffers from a glacial pace. With some aggressive editing Under the Salt would pack a more effective punch when the serial killer is finally revealed. By time we get to the big reveal in the current version I had stopped caring. Whirlygirl fell asleep a few times and made me rewind. Although I pretended to be annoyed I was secretly glad because I was dozing myself. Whirly claims that she fell asleep for reasons other than boredom. Other culprits include the two glasses of Chardonnay that she pounded or my sparkling personality.