Austere and Brutal, 'The Settlers' Grapples With Chile's Colonialist History

By Petr Navovy | Film | April 10, 2024 |

By Petr Navovy | Film | April 10, 2024 |

Premiering at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 17th May 2023 and serving as Chile’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, The Settlers (Los colonos), is a difficult watch. Focusing on three men’s journey through the Tierra Del Fuego archipelago in the first years of the twentieth century, it is a visually beautiful yet harrowing telling of one of the countless atrocities that have been committed in the name of colonialism. In this case, the genocide of the indigenous Selk’nam people by European and American ranchers under orders by livestock companies and in collaboration with government agencies.

The story in The Settlers is simple: A Scottish-born British soldier, Alexander MacLennan (Mark Stanley-the amazing Grenn from Game Of Thrones) gets tasked by his boss, wealthy landowner and industrialist José Menéndez (Alfredo Castro), to make his way to the ocean, ‘securing’ the area granted to him by the government and ‘pacifying’ the land of Tierra Del Fuego en route so that his livestock business can grow. Colonialism has always wrapped itself in noble and safe euphemisms so as to hide the brutality that underpins it, and that private language was never shy about expressing itself. The Settlers makes this explicit at the outset when Menéndez gives MacLennan his orders: ‘The Indians are the problem,’ admits Menéndez. They are ‘beasts’ that have to be ‘cleansed’.

Accompanying MacLennan on his genocidal horseback ride is a cynical and cold-blooded American mercenary (Benjamin Westfall), as well as a mestizo Chilean (Camilo Arancibia) who is forced into participation thanks to his unmatched skill with a rifle who at first is unaware of his group’s true mission. It’s a bit of a trope in cinema that a road trip or similar journey can bring characters who were previously at odds together or at least create some shared understanding or common ground. The three protagonists in The Settlers may well find themselves on a journey together with a number of shared experiences in the pursuit of a common goal—albeit for different reasons—but there is no coming together across boundaries here. Animosity, violent hierarchy, and racism prevail. The actors do not shy away from committed, bleak performances that powerfully illustrate this.

The Settlers is director Felipe Gálvez Haberle’s debut. That is an impressive feat, as this is assured and unflinching cinema. Its relatively brief running time and patient pace combined with spare, subtle character work give it the feel of a parable or folk tale, even as it confronts the horrors of imperial subjugation with, at times, nearly unbearably frank realism. Cinematographer Simone D’Arcangelo steals the show with a blend of stunning widescreen vistas and intimate handheld close-ups. That mixture enhances the tonal duality. There is a washed out naturalism at play that coexists with painterly compositions and colors that are a feast for the eyes—sun, sky, and campfire flames in the pitch black night illuminating hard, worn faces and eyes that have seen things no human being should see.

At the same time, The Settlers flirts with some Western tropes, with stabs of Sturm und Drang punctuating the soundtrack and large dramatic lettering announcing characters and places. I’m not entirely sure whether this worked for me or not. The story may initially feint at possibly following a Tarantino-esque revisionist revenge arc, but in reality proves to do anything but. Your mileage may vary on whether you feel these touches enhance that trajectory or whether they slightly undercut it. Overall, however, this is a film very much worth your attention, serving as a particularly frank reminder of the projects of colonial butchery and annihilation that built the modern world.

The Settlers is available to stream on Mubi and Amazon