The guitar work is characterized by repetitive, hypnotic riffs that cycle like a mantra. This is not music designed for catchy choruses or virtuosic solos; it is designed to induce a trance state. The rhythms are martial and plodding, evoking images of slow, ceremonial marches.
Cecilia faces an impossible choice. She knows Nicolás is volatile but believes him when he swears he only went to Ferreyra’s house to steal money for a debt, not to kill. However, the evidence mounts: CCTV places Nicolás at the scene, his fingerprints are on a gate latch, and his jacket fibers are caught in the garage door.
Mysterium, however, embraces the impure. Estado impuro -aka- State of Impurity -2022- 72...
In the vast and often labyrinthine landscape of contemporary extreme metal, few bands have managed to sustain a career as prolific and philosophically rigorous as Brazil’s Mysterium. Emerging from the depths of the South American underground, Mysterium has long been a standard-bearer for a specific brand of atmospheric black and death metal—one that prioritizes texture, lyrical depth, and an unyielding devotion to the esoteric.
The title’s double meaning— Estado Impuro as both “unclean state” in a forensic sense and “spiritually impure state”—drives the film’s philosophical engine. Cecilia begins as a saintly figure: a hospice nurse who bathes bedsores and reads poetry to dying men. By the film’s end, she has committed perjury, evidence tampering, and obstruction of justice. Worse, she has gaslit a dementia patient into believing he murdered Ferreyra during a fugue state. The guitar work is characterized by repetitive, hypnotic
Arturo Prins has described the film as an attempt to "initiate a deep debate" about the shifting formats of modern relationships. It tackles two major social taboos: the orgy and consensual polygamy. The film suggests that many people live with their true desires "in the closet," choosing hypocrisy and safety over the potential pain or liberation of an open relationship.
To appreciate the significance of "State of Impurity," one must first contextualize the environment from which it sprang. Unlike the polished, commercially viable metal productions that dominate streaming algorithms, the South American underground thrives on physicality and mystery. Bands like Mysterium operate on a different frequency, releasing material on cassette tapes, limited edition CDs, and obscure vinyl pressings that often change hands for significant sums among collectors. Cecilia faces an impossible choice
Because the film never pauses for subplots or flashbacks, the audience is trapped in Cecilia’s panic. Every phone call, every knock at the door, every distant siren becomes a small heart attack. Critics have compared this compression to Victoria (2015) and Good Time (2017), but Estado Impuro is even leaner—no opening credits, no music score until the final two minutes.
(in her final film role before her death in 2023) delivers a haunting five-minute cameo as the dementia patient’s daughter, who slowly pieces together Cecilia’s lie.
Estado impuro * Arturo Prins. * Writer. Juan Carlos Sampedro. * Paulo Capobianco. Cyn Ciardullo. Lucas Foresi. State of Impurity (2022) — The Movie Database (TMDB)
The concept of "State of Impurity" suggests a spiritual or physical condition of being tainted, unwashed, or fallen. In religious contexts, impurity is often a state that bars one from the divine; it is a separation from the holy. However, in the inverted theological framework of black and death metal, impurity is often celebrated as a rejection of societal norms and hypocritical moral structures.