We are what we are Somos lo que hay

Three teenagers are wary about holding up a rather disturbing family tradition in this unusual blend of horror, suspense, and family drama. Alfredo (Francisco Barreiro), Julian (Alan Chávez), and Sabina (Paulina Gaitan) live with their father (Humberto Yáñez) and mother (Carmen Beato) in a run-down section of Mexico City. When father dies unexpectedly during a visit to a shopping mall, it throws the family into chaos, but not just for the usual reasons. The family has an unusual custom in which father would capture a stranger and bring them home, after which the family would kill the stranger in an elaborate ritual and then eat their flesh. With father gone, mother insists that it's time the children stepped up and took over the rite, but Alfredo is too timid to find a proper victim, Julian is bold but too clumsy, and Sabina is thought to be poorly suited for what's always been a man's job. As the brothers try to learn to do things the way dad once did, a police detective (Jorge Zárate) is trying to get to the bottom of a long string of disappearances in the area. The first feature film from writer and director Jorge Michel Grau, Somos Lo Que Hay (aka We Are What We Are) was also one of the final films for Alan Chávez, who played Julian; he died in September 2009 at the age of 18 when an argument with friends led to gunfire. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi