MovieChat Forums > The Evil That Men Do (1984) Discussion > Jorge Hidalgo

Jorge Hidalgo

posted 11 years ago by tomtkh
3 replies | jump to latest

The entire movie centers around the vicious murder of Jorge Hidalgo at the beginning of the film, but yet it says SO little about Jorge himself. I had to read the movie's description on Wikipedia to understand. Jorge Hidalgo apparently wrote articles about Dr. Mulloch's torture, and eventually Dr. Mulloch got revenge by electrocuting him to death. What I don't understand is why Jorge says nothing when he realizes suddenly he's about to die, in a BAD way! And HOW did the doctor get the government to bring him in on his other tortures?! One can only guess...they should have filled us in on more of that. One other thing, Jorge's torture/murder was SO disturbing that when this was released on VHS, they cut the entire scene of him being electrocuted. Also, sadly, the actor that played Jorge committed suicide, apparently before this film was even released. I could not find out details on WHY!

In my opinion, the doctor and his colleagues AND sister deserved far worse than what they got....but at least they got something!!

[–] leczorn 11 years ago

You learn quite a bit about the character through several bits of dialogue. First, Molloch taunts Hidalgo by mentioning some articles that Hildalgo has written, exposing Molloch's torture. Then, Lomelin tells Holland that Hidalgo died while trying to stop Molloch, after Holland declined Hidalgo's offer to do so.

It is true that the actor who played Hidalgo, Jorge Humberto Robles, committed suicide before the movie's release. I previously wrote this about that subject.

"This is just speculation, but I wonder if that scene caused him any depression that led to his suicide. I'm an actor myself and I know that doing dramatic scenes - whether sorrowful, angry, violent or other - can have a major affect on everyone involved. Actors often try to make themselves believe that they are the character they're playing and actually experiencing the scene their acting. I recently did a fight scene in a human trafficking drama titled "From Ashes." The scene was shot about 20 times over a period of less than an hour and was exhausting, even though the scene is very mild by comparison to the electrocution scene. I can only imagine how psychologically tough it must've been for Robles to do that scene - having to violently shake and scream in extreme horror so many times."

[–] tomtkh 11 years ago

I was wondering the same thing about the guy, if doing that death scene had anything to do with his suicide. The electrocution scene was one of the most disturbing I've seen in a long time!! : (

[–] leczorn 11 years ago

Yes, in fact I classify it as the most disturbing scene I've ever seen. I first saw the movie on a VHS tape of my then girlfriend's dad. I think it must've been the unrated version, because what I saw was beyond R rated level in my opinion, though I feel the same way about the hideous brain scene in "Hannibal."

They were brave to open "The Evil That Men Do" that way, and following it with those awful descriptions of some of Molloch's other acts of torture, taking a serious risk at losing much of the audience. But the flip side is that those left are probably going to be going crazy for him to get his.

Also on the subject of depression among actors, Heath Ledger became depressed because he went to such extreme lengths getting in character to play the Joker. He spent a month in a hotel room working himself up to it, then became so depressed by the darkness that he started taking antidepressants heavily, leading to his death.

Furthermore, actors tend to be very emotional, sensitive people. I certainly am, as is my brother. I'd never commit suicide and I don't think my brother would, either, but I still can be very affected by scenes I act.