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El Bonaerense
El bonaerense (2000) is an Argentine, Chilean, French, and Dutch drama film. It was directed and produced by Pablo Trapero. The screenplay was a joint effort of Nicolas Gueilburt, Ricardo Ragendorfer, Dodi Shoeuer, Pablo Trapero, and actor Daniel Valenzuela, and partly funded by INCAA. It features Jorge Roman, Mimi Ardu, among others.
The movie deals with the corruption of the Bonaerense Police in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and the lives of those involved in it.
Plot
Zapa (Jorge Roman) is a locksmith apprentice living the simple life in Corrientes with his family.
After the locksmith Polaco (Hugo Anganuzzi) pulls a job on a safe and uses him as a scapegoat, Zapa is made to pay for the crime by serving in the Buenos Aires police jail, which is pictured as notoriously corrupt. This takes him to the La Matanza barrio in Greater Buenos Aires.
Here, Zapa is taken in as the protegee of his superior Gallo (Dario Levy) and begins to climb the ladder of corruption. At the same time he has an affair with instructor Mabel (Mimi Ardu).
His journey through the political underworld as he frames and bribes ultimately takes him to the edge of innocence, and a final confrontation with El Polaco.
Cast
Jorge Roman as Zapa
Mimi Ardu as Mabel
Dario Levy as Gallo
Victor Hugo Carrizo as Molinari
Hugo Anganuzzi as Polaco
Graciana Chironi as Zapa's Mother
Luis Viscat as Pellegrino
Roberto Posse as Ismael
Anibal Barengo as Caneva
Lucas Olivera as Abdala
Gaston Polo as Lanza
Jorge Luis Gimenez as Berti
Critical reception
New York TImes film critic Stephen Holden lauded the film and wrote, "There are no crusading moralists to clean up the mess in El Bonaerense, Pablo Trapero's grim, dispassionate drama of police corruption, set mostly in contemporary Buenos Aires. This powerful sweat-stained swatch of Argentine neo-realism, filmed in harsh high contrast that throws its characters' faces into deep shadow, follows the initiation of Zapa (Jorge Roman), a naive police recruit, into a labyrinth of sleaze...[the film] is all the more disturbing for refusing to act as an expose. It just throws up its hands and says that this is the way it is. And its pointed detachment lends certain scenes an almost farcical sense of the absurd." Holden, Stephen. The New York Times, film review, November 26, 2003. Last accessed: February 6, 2008.
Distribution
The film was first presented at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2002. It opened in Argentina on September 19, 2002.
The picture was screened at various film festivals, including: the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Czech Republic; the Toronto Film Festival, Canada; the Chicago International Film Festival, USA; the Bergen International Film Festival, Norway; the Stockholm International Film, Sweden; and others.
Awards
Wins
Chicago International Film Festival: FIPRESCI Prize, Pablo Trapero; For the uncompromising and raw depiction of the journey of a man lost in a society without values; 2002.
Guadalajara Mexican Film Festival: Mayahuel Award, Best Film - Ibero-American Jury, Pablo Trapero; 2003.
Lima Latin American Film Festival: Best Screenplay, Pablo Trapero; 2003.
Lleida Latin-American Film Festival: Best Film, Pablo Trapero; 2003.
Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Editing, Nicolas Goldbart; Best New Actress, Mimi Ardu; 2003.
Nominations
Thessaloniki Film Festival: Golden Alexander, Pablo Trapero; 2002.
Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor, Best Art Direction, Sebastian Roses; Best Cinematography, Guillermo Nieto; Best Director, Pablo Trapero; Best Film; Best New Actor, Jorge Roman; Best Original Screenplay, Pablo Trapero; Best Sound, Catriel Vildosola; Best Supporting Actress, Mimi Ardu; 2003.
Cartagena Film Festival: Golden India Catalina, Best Film, Pablo Trapero; 2004.
External links
El bonaerense at the cinenacional.com .
El bonaerense review at Cineismo by Guillermo Ravaschino .
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article El Bonaerense
