Directed by Sebastián Schindel, “The Wrath Of God” is an Argentinian film where the concept of divine justice plays a crucial role. Luciana was the assistant of a popular writer, Kloster. He used to dictate his thoughts to her, and she typed them out for him. Luciana shared an affectionate bond with his daughter, Pauli. She used to wait outside her father’s office to play with Luciana after work. While the family looked almost perfect, Luciana noticed the scars on his wife’s wrist. Mercedes, his wife, was a ballet dancer who, after a car accident, could not continue with her profession. She was depressed due to this tragic event and found it difficult to live a stable life. Kloster had once discussed the law of retaliation, popular during Roman civilization, with Luciana. He believed that to give equal punishment to the driver who was responsible for the car accident; he would have to ruin his career since it was not just the fracture that was the result of the accident but rather what followed after it. Kloster applied a similar understanding of justice when his life fell apart, and Luciana was the victim of his perfect crime.
Spoilers Ahead
‘The Wrath Of God’ Plot Summary – What The Film Is About?
Luciana contacts journalist Esteban Rey. She used to assist him twelve years back. She hoped that he would help with her tragic situation. When Esteban met Luciana, she narrated her story. Twelve years ago, around the same time that she worked for Rey, she used to assist Kloster as well. She was on good terms with his family, especially his little daughter, Pauli. The girl thought of Luciana as her family. One morning, Mercedes and Pauli went out to spend some time together. Luciana was alone with Kloster, and they started working on his book. She found a similarity between the way he described a character’s body mark and a mark she had on her arms. Innocently, she showed the mark on her arm to Kloster, who assumed it to be a intimate invite. He forcefully kissed Luciana on her mouth. She stopped him and left the house in tears. She tried to keep the truth away from her family, but her mother figured it out. They filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Kloster. On the day of the first proceeding, Kloster entered the room and signed a check for the amount that was demanded in the lawsuit. The lawyer discussed that he had lost his wife and daughter recently and was not his best self. When Mercedes read the case notice, she lost her mind. Pauli pestered her about Luciana, and in a moment of rage, she drowned her. Mercedes was guilty of what she had done and wanted to take her life. She overdosed on her pills and died. Even though Kloster gave Luciana the money that she demanded, he made it a point to seek divine revenge.
Luciana starts to lose her family members one after the other, and she finds a connection between the deaths and Kloster. She knew what he was trying to do, but the people around her failed to trust her. He was famous and powerful. Nobody thought he had reason enough to be after her family. The world around her started to assume that she was losing her mind. Kloster thought the same when he was asked about Luciana by Esteban. The journalist found it unbelievable how perfect the coincidences were. He knew Kloster was somehow connected, but there was no hard evidence to prove it. “The Wrath Of God” traces the journey of Esteban, who tries to comprehend the truth of the matter. But in the end, he is left alone with the knowledge of a series of crimes he can do nothing about.
How Was Luciana’s Family Murdered?
Luciana went to the beach with her family after the sexual harassment case. She was not in the mood to enjoy it, but her family thought that the vacation would help her. When Luciana went to get some water, she noticed Kloster there. She was stunned to see him there. She remembered him talking about the beach house her family had, and she believed he had an ill motive to be present there. She warned her family, but they dismissed it, thinking that it was too much of a coincidence. They did not believe her and thought that she was imagining him out of trauma. The next day, when she went to the beach with Valentina, a storm arose. She grabbed hold of her little sister and went to the shelter. While her whole family was safe, her brother, Ramiro, was not with them. He was a lifeguard and was on duty during that time. But soon they heard a commotion and found that Ramiro had drowned in the sea. Amidst the crowd, Luciana noticed Kloster. She knew it was he who killed her brother since he died while trying to save another person. The identity of the person he was trying to save was never known.
Even after losing Ramiro, her family did not think it was Kloster who was behind it. They believed that they had lost their son in an accident, and that was about it. Luciana, too, stopped pestering them with her theories, though she closely watched the interviews of Kloster, who said that he had a new muse in life and that had helped him change his writing style. She received a call from her brother, Bruno, who wanted her to wish their parents on their anniversary. Her mother shared that they were making the mushroom pie that they always had as an anniversary dinner. They had foraged the mushrooms during the day and were preparing the dish then. Only a few hours after the call had ended, Bruno called her again and asked her to come to the hospital where he was taking their parents. Upon reaching out, she learned that her father had passed away due to poisoning and her mother had suffered brain damage. It was almost unbelievable since her mother had a vast knowledge of mushrooms. Luciana shared the secret of distinguishing a poisonous one from a non-poisonous one with Kloster, something that she learned from her mother. Luciana knew that he was behind it since she had once told him about her parents’ anniversary celebration ritual where they always baked a mushroom pie. He knew that they celebrated the day at the beach house every year. He probably gave Valentina the poisonous mushroom when she was a child and did not know much. How he conducted his operations was never discussed in “The Wrath Of God.”
Years later, she lost her brother Bruno as well, when a prisoner who broke away from prison attacked him for seducing his wife. He was beaten to death. Luciana connected his death with Kloster’s as well, since he used to write letters to prisoners, and he might have found some way to convince a few of his fans to work out his plan. Of course, the police did not believe Luciana and thought that she had lost her mind and was baselessly accusing the writer. Esteban followed each death and found the reason for the deaths to be just as Luciana had told him. He could find a connection as well, but it was not strong enough, so he requested to meet Kloster once to get his opinion on what Luciana had accused him of. Kloster permitted him to meet him at his house. Esteban wanted to be a writer too, but he did not succeed in his pursuit. Kloster reminded him that at one point in time, he had sent his manuscripts to him as well, and now he was at his house to ask his opinion on a piece that accused him of murder. He dismissed the accusations, stating that Luciana was not in the right mental state. He also added that the deaths were perhaps divine justice unfolding in ten years. According to him, she was a seductive woman who made Kloster desire her and then accused him of harassment. It was her wicked game that led to the deaths of his wife and daughter. He held her responsible for his tragedy. In the end, when Esteban asked him how he could justify the series of coincidences, he implied that life is unpredictable and it is impossible to guess how certain things take shape.
Esteban was left confused after his interaction with Kloster. He did not know whom to believe, and somehow Kloster was able to convince him that he was taking a long shot. Soon after, he received the news of a fire in a nursing home. Upon reaching it, he found that Luciana’s mother was admitted there and had lost her life. When Luciana came to the scene, she accused Esteban of being responsible for her mother’s death since he did nothing even after knowing the truth. She had warned him that Kloster’s next target would be her mother, but even after knowing that, she could not save her.
‘The Wrath Of God’ Ending Explained: Was Esteban’s Article Published? What Happened To Kloster?
The man who was behind the fire at the nursing home was a random person who committed the crime. When Esteban asked him if he was behind just this one incident, the man simply smiled and left in the police van. Esteban noticed the objects kept in the perpetrator’s bag and saw that he carried a book written by Kloster. This made Esteban determined to write the article titled “The Death of Kloster.” The next day, when he went to his office, his editor read a passage from an article he wrote ten years back in which he criticized Kloster for using his loss to get famous. The editor believed that Esteban had a personal vendetta against whom he wrote the malicious article. He added that Esteban’s article could not be printed since he could not be trusted as a journalist. He was also removed from his position.
Esteban drank away that evening, watching Kloster bask in his glory. In that drunken state of mind, he theorized that even coincidences have a pattern, and the case of Luciana was just that. Meanwhile, Luciana had only her sister, whom she wanted to protect at all costs. She lost control of herself when she heard that Valentina had interviewed Kloster for her school project. She decided to confront the man before it was too late. She sought help from Esteban to meet Kloster. Esteban had a press pass to a book signing event for the release of Kloster’s new book. He and Luciana went to the event. She waited on the third floor while Esteban tried to get hold of Kloster. He simply informed Kloster that Luciana was waiting for him and that if he wished to avoid a scene, he must talk to her.
Luciana requested him to stop his games since he had already tasted revenge. She had no more suffering to offer; she had suffered enough to realize the pain it must have caused him to lose his family. He replied that it was up to him to decide if he was satisfied with the revenge. Luciana asked Kloster what she had to do to end it all. He responded by saying that it was always in her hands to end it, not his. It was only she who could end it. She understood what he was implying; she was ready to take her life, but she wanted him to reassure her that no harm would fall upon Valentina. He reassured her that nothing bad would happen to her sister. When a man interfered with their conversation, Luciana jumped from the third floor and fell to the ground at the bookstore. A crowd gathered and Esteban hurried to check her status. She was no longer breathing. Blood from Luciana’s body started to spread across Kloster’s books as he proudly watched from the third floor.
In the end, when Esteban went to comfort Valentina during Luciana’s cremation, he noticed that Kloster was already by her side. When she left, Esteban asked Kloster to remember that she was still a minor. Kloster was quick to respond that she would be 18 in a few weeks, and she did not mind the age difference. Even though Kloster knew that Valentina was the age of his daughter if she had been alive, he was monstrous enough to take advantage of her situation as well. When Esteban tried to call him out for being a pathetic man, he responded that Esteban must be careful with his words or else he would have to suffer like Luciana. Kloster left with Valentina in his arms, and Esteban could do nothing about it.
“The Wrath of God” questions the idea of “an eye for an eye,” how even though Kloster believed that what he did was nothing short of divine justice, he never questioned his behavior. Luciana had to suffer for calling out a man who sexually harassed her, and everyone around her refused to believe her. By the end of the film, the predator continues to survive, now more popular than ever, and the despicable man manages to amuse her sister and win her trust. He promised to not physically harm her, so he chose to romance her, making sure to hunt down the last one in some way or another. Kloster was blinded by revenge to the point where he refused to accept the truth. Sebastián Schindel’s film is an interesting thriller film, though it is far from perfect.
“The Wrath Of God” is a 2022 Drama Thriller film directed by Sebastián Schindel.
