Song Without A Name is a belter. Peru’s entry for this year’s Oscars, the debut of writer-director Melina León delivers on the promise of the set-up — a gripping investigation into a missing baby — but layers on different textures, from documentary realism to nightmarish visions set against a backdrop of traditional Peruvian village culture. Shot in mesmeric black-and-white and with few trappings of the modern world, it has a timeless quality (it’s actually set in 1988) combined with a compelling urgency that keeps it in the here and now.
After an opening montage of news footage establishing the tumultuous political context, the story centres on Geo (Pamela Mendoza), a poor, pregnant Quechua villager who gets by selling potatoes on the street and living in a shack with her equally overworked husband Leo (Lucio Rojas). Hearing an ad on the radio, she discovers a clinic providing free maternity care. As the baby is born — the camera remains unflinchingly on Mendoza’s face — the infant is immediately whisked away for extra care. Geo is sent home to clear the bed for the next patient with instructions to return the following day. When she does, there is no sign of the premises or her baby. It’s as if her child has never been born.
A deep dive into a Kafka-esque world that often goes in circles or hits dead ends but remains absorbing.
At this point, Song Without A Name turns into a loosely told but still gripping detective story/baby hunt. Getting nowhere with hostile cops and the red-tape-ridden bureaucratic channels, Geo and Leo turn to modest young journalist Pedro (Tommy Párraga), who takes up the pair’s plight. Geo and Pedro embark on a deep dive into a Kafka-esque world of faux clinics, corrupt doctors and baby-trafficking that often goes in circles or hits dead ends but remains absorbing. Less successful is Pedro’s fledgling romance with actor Isa (Maykol Hernández), which feels undercooked without ever feeding into the main plot.
Although the film is based on true events, León doesn’t completely cleave to realism. While much of Song Without A Name is shot in a handheld documentary-esque style, cinematographer Inti Briones’ mesmeric, monochrome Academy-ratio images lend the film a stunning poetic feel, giving the story — aided by Peruvian parades and rituals — an other-worldly feel. This is underlined by the score, a mixture of traditional Peruvian folk music and a more ambient wash by Pauchi Sasaki. All this is in stark contrast to Pamela Mendoza, whose perfectly wrought performance makes Geo’s pain feel so very real.