“Don’t forget, life is a game. So fight for survival… and find out if you’re worth it!” This quote from the masterpiece Battle Royale is one of the most iconic line deliveries in cinematic history. In context, it refers to the death game about to unfold, but it resonates far beyond that. It can just as easily apply to life itself, a constant struggle against capitalism, mental health pressures, and systemic abuse. Life may be a game, but we’re not the players; we’re the NPCs (Non-player characters).

Decorado, directed by Alberto Vazquez, explores this existential dread not through the metaphor of a game, but through the artifice of a set. Its characters have no control over their world, resulting in a wonderfully sharp and unsettling piece of dark satire. When the curtains open and the audience sees a city controlled by the mega corporation ALMA (Almighty Limitless Megacorporative Agency), the film introduces Arnold, a middle-aged mouse in the midst of a midlife crisis. He takes his ALMA-branded medication, whose ingredients are “100% happiness.” Struggling to find a job as it seems that everywhere has it out against him, he feels a growing sense of dread, as if someone is watching him, as if he’s living on a film set. His wife, María, insists he should simply take his meds. But Arnold chooses to rebel, determined to escape the set and carve out a better life.

Decorado, from its opening moments, is visually striking. Its aesthetic, a Disney-like world filtered through the dystopian lens of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, is something that shouldn’t work on paper, yet somehow does. The woodlands depicted are not the whimsical Hundred Acre Wood, but a place where the poorest of the poor are hidden away and forgotten. The film makes beautiful use of dark colours, particularly purples, and twists the American cartoon style to unsettling effect. The character animation is also extremely fluid, creating hauntingly vivid and memorable images.

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Dark and nasty to its core, the harsh reality of capitalism is present in every frame. ALMA’s intrusion into every aspect of the characters’ lives makes the world feel repressive. The film delivers an unflinching critique of capitalism. Compared to other works, such as No Other Choice, which focus more on the inner conflicts of the working class. Decorado instead targets the corporations themselves and the ways capitalism has seeped into every corner of society. How can we truly escape when the ball is always in their court? Throughout the film, ALMA creates the problem and then sells the solution. Depressed because you can’t find a job? There’s a pill for that. The film pushes this idea to an extreme, yet no matter how dark it becomes, its impact never diminishes.

However, what is truly frightening is the idea that we can never escape capitalism. Many famous philosophers claim that “it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism”, which underscores this sense of inescapability. Decorado explores this perfectly through Arnold and his growing belief that he is living on a set. As the film progresses, we too are forced to question what is real. Is there a life beyond what we know? The film ultimately makes a monumental statement about this theme, culminating in an ending that is both bold and perfectly executed.

The voice cast is utterly perfect. Asier Hormaza’s performance as Arnold is fierce and intense, allowing every scene and every moment of thematic weight to land with profound impact. Aintzane Gamiz is equally impeccable as María; her portrayal of a woman struggling with depression leading to self-doubt and self-loathing is emotionally charged and captures the fear and fragility that come with the condition. The score, on the other hand, is operatic in its presentation. Heightening the world to an almost absurd degree, it becomes impossible not to laugh at the horrors unfolding on screen.

Decorado is a film that is bold, dark, and filled to the brim with satire. For some, its audacity may be overwhelming, creating a film that feels unrelentingly depressing, because even in its heightened reality, it still reflects our own. It’s the world we live in every day, one that demands we escape capitalism if we want a better future. Decorado suggests that such a task may be impossible, resulting in a film that is grim yet deeply rewarding.

★★★★

Played as part of the 2026 Glasgow Film Festival / Asier Hormaza, Aintzane Gamiz, Kandido Uranga, Mikel Garmendia, José Felipe Auzmendi / Dir: Alberto Vazquez / 15

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