Sh*t Happens

In a wealthy Dominican household, Verónica (Lizbeth Santos) controls every bite eaten by her sickly daughter Isabella, while Raúl (Fele Martínez), a frustrated biotechnologist, experiments with homemade cures. Only Abi (Cindy Galán), the young nanny, can still make the girl smile. Then Raúl develops a microbiotic treatment with a secret ingredient as astonishing as its results. Isabella’s gut stabilises, her strength returns – and soon the household’s other illnesses begin clearing up too. A remedy nobody can quite explain becomes the one thing everyone wants. But just as the family begins to believe it has outsmarted sickness itself, the miracle takes a turn no one could have imagined.

Three-time Dominican Oscar-submission filmmaker José María Cabral (“Checkmate”, “Woodpeckers”, “The Projectionist”) makes his first leap into dark comedy with “Sh*t Happens”. Mixing unease with wicked humour, he turns a family crisis into a sharp examination of class, power and the invisible labour sustaining privileged lives. Tender, queasy and socially charged, the film watches gratitude curdle into possession – and asks who is valued when the help becomes indispensable.

Milani Perera