“Down the Rabbit Hole” is probably the strangest feature film on Netflix at the moment, a twisted parable of an indulged, myopic childhood based on the acclaimed debut novella of Mexican author Juan Pablo Villalobos.

“Fiesta en la Madriguera,” as it was titled in Mexico, is about growing up in a “palace,” the spoiled and sheltered only son of a Mexican drug lord. The novella earned comparisons to “Alice in Wonderland” and “Room,” and the Pacino/DePalma “Scarface,”when it was published, to which I’d add such “the child doesn’t really SEE what’s really going on” tales as “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.”

Miguel Valverde Uribe is Tochtli, a tween we meet on his birthday, where party “guests” are all hired hands of his father, whom the child addresses by his name — Yolcaut. Dad (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) indulges his boy’s every whim, keeping a zoo for the boy’s entertainment, a room of the mansion turned into a giant terrarium for displaying stuffed critters and the kid’s vast collection of hats. .

The child is sheltered from the outside world, tutored by the failed writer Mazatzin (Raúl Briones), who turns the kid into a curious child and an avid reader. Tochtli, who is bald (“to prevent head lice”), is nicknamed “Bonehead” by everyone in the household save for the teacher. Mazatzin feeds the boy’s every new obsession, the latest being Louis XVI of France. He gives him a crown. Samurai Japan will come later.

The boy is used to a father who makes his every wish come true. Dad provided all the hired help with big wads of cash to buy an endangered woodpecker and other exotic gifts for that birthday party.

“Life is like the lottery, hijo,” Yolcaut teaches. “At least for us, we got a lot of lucky numbers.”

When the kid gets it in his head that he must add pygmy hippos to his collection of critters, there’s nothing for it but to safari to Africa and “acquire” a couple.

But there are limits to what omnipotent Yolcaut, who goes through women friends (Debi Mazar, Teresa Ruiz among them) and cash like there’s no tomorrow, can do. As the boy watches the way his brutish dad treats a compliant governor, his desire for the boy to learn but his disdain for “pansies,” Tochtli starts to form opinions even if he’s slow to ask hard questions about all the cash, the dead-of-night goings-on and the way the household frets over crime news on TV and the like.

Swiping a pistol from his father’s gun cache may be an innocent act, or just dangerously imitative of his role model. But the kid may be taking lessons outside of his father’s limited, cruel and Darwinian views.

“The world is full of pansies, men, women and children!” Yolcaut bellows. “But we are macho and can take advantage!”

The players are good across the board, with Garcia-Rulfo managing to convey a nurturing presence in an impatient, ignorant and violent man.

Director Manolo Caro is a workhorse of Mexican TV and cinema, getting jobs from Netflix and others and telling stories efficiently, with just a hint of style.

I wouldn’t call this pointed parable about wealth, corruption, innocence and The American Get Out of Jail Free card that could come with a lot of money any sort of great leap forward in terms of technique. But it’s immersive and biting and fun to parse for its deeper meaning, even if it most certainly isn’t for every taste.

Rating: TV-MA, lots of violence, profanity

Cast: Manuel Garcia Rulfo, Teresa Ruiz, Miguel Valverde Uribe, Raul Briones and Debi Mazar

Credits: Directed by Manolo Caro, scripted by, based on a novel by Juan Pablo Villalobos. A Netflix release.

Running time: 1:42

Rating: TV-MA, lots of violence, profanity

Cast: Manuel Garcia Rulfo, Teresa Ruiz, Miguel Valverde Uribe, Raul Briones and Debi Mazar

Credits: Directed by Manolo Caro, scripted by, based on a novel by Juan Pablo Villalobos. A Netflix release.

Running time: 1:42