La Soga is a film of such raw energy and ragged beauty that these elements alone would justify its viewing. Beyond this, though, it contains a story both timely and timeless, brutal and elegant, for what is at stake is the redemption of a man's soul.
In a poor neighbourhood in Santiago, Dominican Republic, where the streets are run by “boomerang” drug dealers (thugs who have been deported from the United States back to their homeland), a modest butcher struggles to raise his sensitive ten-year-old boy, Luisito (Fantino Fernandez). After witnessing the murder of his father by a vicious New York criminal named Rafa, Luisito meets General Colon (Juan Fernandez), head of the Dominican secret police. Colon preys on the boy's desire for revenge, transforming him into a heartless killer. Twenty years later, Luisito (Manny Perez) has risen to become Colon's top assassin, perpetually kept in control by the general's promise to deliver his father's killer, who has fled to New York.
Into Luisito's emotionally hollow world comes Jenny (Denise Quiñones), a childhood sweetheart. Unaware of his occupation, Jenny falls again for Luisito, and the tenderness she shows him rekindles his dormant conscience. As his eyes begin to open to the corruption around him, he struggles to cope with the actions of both his past and present. Recrimination, guilt and fury bubble up until he is forced to risk his life in order to alter its path.
In his first solo directorial effort (he usually works as a team with his brother Jeff), Josh Crook has worked cheek-by-jowl with writer-actor-producer Manny Perez to create a work of such poetic ferocity that much of its imagery will be stamped on the viewer forever: lush hills cradling poverty-stricken towns; the gentleness with which Luisito's father explains to him the honour of a respectful death; the poetic brutality when Luisito butchers his first pig; and Luisito imprisoned, beaten and handcuffed but at peace.
Inspired by true events, and made on location in the Dominican Republic for the price of a high-end German car, La Soga embodies everything that independent filmmaking should be about: passion instead of money, story instead of special effects, soul instead of spin.
Jane Schoettle
Josh Crook grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and studied history and art at Marietta College in Ohio. With his brother Jeff Crook, he has co-directed the films
The Fittest (03),
Sucker Punch (03),
Ghetto Dawg 2 (05),
Salvage (06),
Rockaway (07) and
The Level (09).
La Soga (09) is his first solo feature.