Death Has No Master has just received it's North American premiere at this years edition of Fantastic Fest.
On August 1, 1498 Christopher Columbus would land at the Paria Peninsula in what is now known as Venezuela. He would claim this land - at first he believed it was an island - for Spain. History has noted that Columbus saw the the Kalinago and Arawakan wearing pearl ornaments. This would begin subsequent decades of further Spanish encroachment on this region. For pearls and the continuing of a system Columbus called repartimiento, otherwise known as slavery. Indigenous people were forced to work on the mines, farms of their lands and some people were kidnapped to Spain as slaves.
In 1922 oil was discovered in Venezuela.
On January 3, 2026 the Trump administration authorized a predawn raid in Caracas the U.S. military arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Now many months later through dubious deal-making U.S. oil giant Chevron is expanding oil operations in Venezuela. "Chevron's history in Venezuela spans more than a century, and our expanded position reflects our confidence in the country's deep resource potential." CEO Mike Wirth said in a prepared statement days ago.
In Jorge Thielen Armand's timely new film Death Has No Master, Caro (Asia Argento) father has recently passed away. Caro travels from Italy to Venezuela with the intention of sell her childhood home. Once she arrives at the plantation mansion she discovers a bunch of people living on the property, lead by Sonia (Dogreika Tovar) who has been subletting rooms to others.
At first Caro and Sonia come to an understanding that they will co-exist in the mansion. As time passes and it becomes known that Caro is intending to sell the property and thereby displace Sonia her son Maiko who Caro vehemently calls Michael and everyone relying on this space for habitation the tensions begin to flare and serial into violence.
A direction that struck me as a viewer is at first I was concerned with Caro's well-being. As the film progresses and her true colors and intentions emerge that dynamic shifts for Sonia, Maiko and everyone else. The character of Yoni (Arturo Rodriguez) who worked for Caro's father is there alongside her until he is not.
I was first struck with the look of the film and could not quite place when the movie was set. As the story progresses we learn that the film is rooted in the present day. I found the look of the film crafted by cinematographer Felipe Guerrero and Jorge was incredible. Not having the film visually look immediately and readily be placed in the present day underlines the centuries of colonial invasion and genocide.
Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton first used the term "psychic numbing" in 1967 to describe how rescue workers and survivors after the Hiroshima bombing shut off their emotions to cope with overwhelming horror. When large scale tragedies occur such as genocide as we are seeing in Gaza many people cannot comprehend that many people being killed, injured, maimed or displaced. Death Has No Master succeeds in taking these large scale concepts of colonialism and genocide and placing them in the level of individual actions and repercussions.
On September 30 in Canada is now known as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. A day to reflect upon Canada's systemic violence towards the indigenous people within Canada such as the residential school system which was prevalent well into the 1990s. Canada has a long history of in particular gold mining in Venezuela. At the time of this writing the United States while having Indigenous People's Day is observed in 17 states and D.C. is not a Federal recognized Day. A first step to reconciliation is to formally recognize the past violence towards first peoples. I live in Texas where the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has voted to further white wash Texas history in classrooms.
Perhaps these wealthy nations need to do more to address their global impact and not just within boarders that were drawn by colonizers and labelled, 'home". A film such as Death Has No Master which further draws attention to these issues is very welcomed in our quest for actual reconciliation and not a day of platitudes.
Here is my interview with director Jorge Thielen Armand:
