Satanás or the awakening of colombian cinema
After an endless list of colombian films on drugs, soccer and mafia related topics; we have a true masterpiece that evades the usual clichés of our nation's cinema. We have had two typical approaches: magical realism (a la García Marquéz, e.g. El Carro, Golpe de Estadio, Bolivar soy yo...) or crude realism (like La Vendedora de Rosas, Rosario Tijeras, María Llena eres de gracia...). None of these two views accounts for the much profounder reality in which our society dwells. They seem rather simplistic perspectives that reduce everything to stereotypes (like the colombian mafia don or drug dealer), instead of confronting the reality of everyday lives in a big city like Bogotá. In Andi Baiz' tour de force we find an incredible array of characters, ranging from the poor underemployed girl, to the troubled priest, to the miserable mother who has been deserted by her husband and takes a terrible decision to free her kids from unforseen poverty...And not to mention the ex-Vietnam war veteran who goes on a terrible blood rampage. They're all here, in the first film that marks the awakening of colombian cinema. I wouldn't hesitate to say that this film is the best Colombia has ever witnessed. Let's hope that we cease to make films on recurrent, clichéd issues (like drugs, mafia or pathetic soccer chauvinism) or at least give them a more human approach. Satanás shows the intense internal conflicts of the characters and their complexity, instead of relying on cartoon-like characters that seem anything but real. I had it with magical realism and crude realism, and the consequent over simplification of reality they denote. Bravo for Baiz and Mario Mendoza, who's novel inspired this film. Two thumbs up!!
On a sidenote, for those readers who ignore the story of Campo Elias Delgado, I will briefly relate it to the film. Before Cho Seung Hui killed the 32 students and teachers in Virginia Tech, Campo Elias held the infamous record for mass slaughter (information taken from the newspaper "El Tiempo"). In a single day, he killed over 20 people, including an english student (whom Campo Elias taught english lessons), his own mother and several innocents who were dinning at the well-known restaurant "Pozzeto" in Bogotá, Colombia. That took place in December, 1986. Mario Mendoza, a well regarded colombian writer, published a book titled "Satanás", which dealt with a fictional character tightly based on Campo Elias. Campo Elias was a ex-Vietnam war veteran, who gave private english lessons. He was also a remarkable reader of english literature. Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is said to have been his favourite work, and before the "Pozzeto" massacre, he was writting an essay on this book.
This movie isn't for the faint hearted. It has a couple of sex scenes and loads of violence. That said, let's hope Andi continues the brilliant career he's started with this superb piece.