If the documentary had focussed more on the children and their transition from living in a shack in a nature park to a bustling city, I would have been all in. Instead, the central subject of the film is the family patriarch Gica, a man who is by all accounts, pretty vile. Bouts of emotional abuse, threats, and gaslighting play out on screen while the rest of the family hovers around the edges for much of the run time. The highlight came near the end, when the eldest son Vila pushes back and forces Gica to reckon with his choices to raise his children off the grid in largely squalid conditions.
All in all, Acasa is a technical achievement and a compelling topic for a documentary, the choices made in telling this family’s story just didn’t work for me.
If the documentary had focussed more on the children and their transition from living in a shack in a nature park to a bustling city, I would have been all in. Instead, the central subject of the film is the family patriarch Gica, a man who is by all accounts, pretty vile. Bouts of emotional abuse, threats, and gaslighting play out on screen while the rest of the family hovers around the edges for much of the run time. The highlight came near the end, when the eldest son Vila pushes back and forces Gica to reckon with his choices to raise his children off the grid in largely squalid conditions.
All in all, Acasa is a technical achievement and a compelling topic for a documentary, the choices made in telling this family’s story just didn’t work for me.
