Quien Puede Matar a Un Niño?

Music by Waldo de Los Rios

 

 

 

 

 

Quite noted in its time, the cult thriller Quien Puede Matar Un Niño? directed by Narciso Ibañez Serrador, risked high in the history of a group of children that eliminate the adult population on an mediterranean island and pursue a couple who visit the place.
Following the formula of the scores of the time, specially of Italian cinema, the music of Waldo de los Rios (subtitled, Symphony Apologia Del Terror) displays a beautiful main theme to contrast the moments of intense suspense. The hum of young voices inserted in various sequences is quite astonishing in its ghoulish effect. Musical experiments to support the climate enter the modern music writing in its use of dissonances, electronics and abstraction. Waldo dismissed cheap effects (no stingers to surprise) and achieved a remarkable work in grabbing listener´s attention in a very difficult assignment. The result is modernistic and of incredible emotional strength. The most ambitious piece is the stunning La Mutation – seven minutes of climate abstraction. The score still exudes creativity instrumental in several times as in La Rage De Los Niños (the couple´s scape, the siege at the station) and the brass "screams" in Biafra Vietnam Auschwitz. In total contrast stands the beauty of Evelyn theme in three versions, including a vocal version (in Spanish), with uncredited singer - unfortunately not used in the film. Curiously, the two musical extremes employed (romantic theme and avant-garde music) are forced into a strange coexistence, if not harmonious at least justified within film´s narrative structure. At same time, beautiful and bizarre in its intensity, Quien Puede Matar Un Niño? is one of the greatest scores of fantastic cinema.