Written by: Ryan Dailey
Sara is a young woman in a tiny Spanish village that suffers the slings and arrows of verbal abuse and fat-shaming at the hands of a small clique of “cool” girls. One day, a stranger decides to stand up for her when she will not. The stranger eliminates Sara’s problems one by one, putting Sara on the radar of local police. Sara is torn between the desire to protect the man that saved her or telling the truth of who is behind the string of murders.
Laura Galȧn turns in a powerful performance in Piggy. Her character, Sara, is a tortured young woman from a small village that is struggling not only with the trials and tribulations of coming into her own, but struggles with weight issues as well.
Young Sara works and lives with her parents, who own a local butcher shop. The family are victims of cyberbullying early in the film, having their picture taken candidly and posted to social media with the tag, “Three Little Piggies.” This is merely the start of Sara’s issues.
Director Carlota Perada has delivered a gripping look into the world of body-shaming and an interesting study in just how awful humans can be towards one another.
The film itself is not anything that pushes the boundaries of filmmaking in terms of story-telling or even technical application. The film is a moving piece, however, made good by means of the powerful acting. Of course, as mentioned before, Laura Galán pulls the viewer in and really makes the audience feel her pain and rejection. The parts of the abusive mother is played flawlessly by Carmen Machi. She brings such Carrie vibes to the piece. The clique of “cool” girls are played in such a way that the audience will be cheering when they meet their ultimate fate.
Piggy is more than a slasher movie, it is a journey of a woman choosing to be the better person than her tormentors, a tale of a girl finding out who she is.
Piggy is yet another prime example of how independent cinema is far superior to the cookie-cutter films that Hollywood pumps out like the soulless factory that it is. Piggy is a work where one can tell that not only the filmmakers loved the material, but the actors did as well.
If one is looking for a revenge tale where the main character actually learns and grows from their experiences,Piggy is well worth watching through to the end.