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Funny Dirty Little War
Funny Dirty Little War (1983) is an Argentine black comedy film. The movie is directed by Hector Olivera, and the screenplay was written by Olivera and Roberto Cossa, based on a novel of the same name written by Osvaldo Soriano. The motion picture was produced by Fernando Ayala and Luis O. Repetto; and features Federico Luppi, Hector Bidonde, Victor Laplace, among others.
The events of the comedy-drama take place one day in 1974.
Plot
Suprino (Hector Bidonde) is the local Peronist political boss in the small town of Colonia Vela. He plots with the county mayor (Lautaro Murua) and a union leader (Victor Laplace) to get the deputy mayor Ignacio Fuentes (Federico Luppi) out of power. This is surprising because Fuentes is a man that has followed Peron.
Fuentes is told that he has to fire his assistant Mateo (Jose Maria Lopez) because of his Marxist leftist sympathies. Yet, Fuentes, a man of principals, refuses. This evokes a harsh response from Suprino, who has the police chief intervene.
Fuentes, rather than cave in to pressure, barricades his office, lines up men to stand by him, and gets ready for the first police assault.
Leftist students then kidnap the police chief (Rodolfo Ranni) demanding that the attack on Fuentes stop. Yet, the students actions only help escalate the now raging conflict into a minor civil war.
Background
Basis of film
The film is based on a real political events that took place in Argentina in the mid 1970s. The film depicts, sub silentio, the struggle between the Montoneros political movement and the right-wing Peronist forces.
The Montonero Peronist Movement was an Argentine left-wing Peronist guerrilla group, active during the 1970s. Its motto was venceremos ("we will conquer").
After Juan Peron's return from 20 years of exile and the June 20, 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and right-wing Peronism, the Montoneros were expelled from the Justicialist party in May 1974 by Peron. The group was almost completely dismantled in 1977, during Videla's dictatorship.
Cast
Federico Luppi as Ignacio Fuentes
Miguel Angel Sola as Juan
Ulises Dumont as Cervino
Julio de Grazia as Garcia
Rodolfo Ranni as Police Chief Llanos
Lautaro Murua as Mayor Guglielmini
Hector Bidonde as Suprino
Arturo Maly as Toto
Raul Rizzo as Rossi
Victor Laplace as Reinaldo
Graciela Dufau as Mrs. Fuentes
Jose Maria Lopez as Mateo
Distribution
Funny Dirty Little War first opened in Argentina on September 22, 1983.
The motion picture has also been featured at various film festivals including the Toronto Film Festival; the Berlin International Film Festival; the Cognac Festival du Film Policier, Cognac, France; and the New York New Directors/New Films Festival, New York City; and others.
Critical reception
Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times, appreciated both the acting, pacing, and Hector Olivera's directorial style, and wrote, "The film has also been so cannily paced - and is so well acted - that there's never much time to consider larger meanings while the mayhem is going on. Though Funny Dirty Little War ends bleakly, the existence of the film itself - the fact that it could be made at all, and with such style - is ultimately invigorating." Canby, Vincent. The New York Times, film review, March 30, 1985. Last accessed: January 15, 2008.
Awards
Wins
Berlin International Film Festival: ''Confederation Internationale des Cinemas d'Art et Essai Juries(C.I.C.A.E.) Award; International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize; Silver Berlin Bear, Special Jury Prize; 1984.
Cognac Festival du Film Policier: Grand Prix; 1985.
Nominated
Berlin International Film Festival: Golden Berlin Bear; 1984.
External links
No habra mas penas ni olvido'' at the cinenacional.com .
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Funny Dirty Little War
