In the midst of a political upheaval sweeping Bolivia in the 1980s, a young girl hunts for a monster in the Amazons linked to numerous vanishings while the impending chaos of a military coup threatens to tear her family apart.
MONSTRUO is a feature-length film about the political upheaval sweeping Bolivia in the 1980s. It follows Miriam, a 12-year-old girl whose world is turned upside down when her father accepts a job opportunity and moves the family across the country to Santa Cruz, a city next to the jungle.
Miriam’s a bit of a bully; she’s brash and spoiled, and she doesn’t understand the strain her family is under with the impending chaos of a military coup. But underneath her abrasive persona, she’s a sensitive, lonely soul.
She’s doesn’t have any friends at school, her parents are only focused on work and lavish all their praise to her brother Javier, the perfect, golden-child, who can do no wrong. The only person who seems to care about her is the maid.
Then, one day, she sees it after coming home from school. A giant, looming creature moving in the jungle. Miriam screams because she already hates this town, and now finding out there’s a monster there is like the icing on the cake. She knew something was off about this place!
What’s even worse, no one believes her. Her family thinks she’s making stuff up because she’s not getting what she wants: attention.
Miriam is determined to get proof, so she teams up with Marcelo, her nemesis from school, who also believes he saw the monster. And when they venture into the jungle in the middle of the night, they do end up finding something. Not a monster, but a bunker, with strange men with German accents walking in and out. Little do they know, that they have stumbled upon a cocaine jungle lab, owned by Nazi narco-traffickers financing the military coup.
At its heart, MONSTRUO is about Miriam's journey. It's about her fighting to be seen, to be heard, and ultimately, to find her place. It's about the real monsters we face—neglect, loneliness, the struggle for validation… and it’s about how a girl finds her voice in the midst of chaos.
