Language: Argentinian Year: 2010For me, this was the the film that finally pushed me to do this blog. This is a certified, modern day classic and the thought of people not getting to experience this piece of cinema bothered me.
Having watched the oscars in early March, I was backing either 'A Prophet' or 'The White Ribbon' to scoop the best foreign language film award and was shocked to see a relatively unknown film walk away with it. When it was finally released in cinema's a few weeks ago, I smugly set out to prove the Oscar's panel wrong. However, what I found was something quite remarkable.
The film is Argentinian and is one of many successful films coming out of South America in the 'Latin American New Wave'. It tells the story of lawyer Banjamin Esposito played by Ricardo Darin (also in the brilliant XXY) and how since his retirement he has been plagued by one particular case from 1974. This is one of those films that works on so many levels. On one hand it is a gripping thriller with some seriously tense scenes and graphic flashbacks (the 18 certificate is well deserved) and on the other it is a heart wrenching love story with one man's battle at losing a loved one and another of living in regret at never acting on his feelings when he had the chance.
This film works because it is told so well. It would have been easy to tell this story as a straight forward cop thriller but director Campanella adapts the story with a real humanity and tells it beautifully.
No comments:
Post a Comment