Audience Member
la escena de los niños al interior de ese arbol lo mejor
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Slow-paced, dark, twisted, haunting and one of the most interesting characters in recent years captured on film are just some of the elements that shine in this spanish/mexican film.
It deals with Aro Tolbukhin's murders (he set several people on fire in the Guatemala jungle) and what people surrounding him think was behind that. Everyone has his or her own opinion about Aro but even if the real Aro has very little to say, he gives away valuable information behind the man, and by studying the man, we get behind the murder.
The fascinating thing about the movie (flawed but effective) is the way it is told. It's a documentary, told with real footage some french directors had gattered for a film about Aro and mixing that with current footage the new directors filmed for the new movie (mostly interviews with the nun Aro fell in love with while in Guatemala and his nanny back in Hungary) and, for the best part, a fictional work of beauty with actors playing the most mesmerizing moments in Aro's daily life. In this part, the dexterity of the directors comes to life when you realize how the chapters are filmed. We meet with Aro's recolections of his childhood and adolescence in Hungary (recolections no one believes at 100% because of the fantasy world Aro may have created around him) along with the reality behind his last years in Guatemala told by the nun (Sister Carmen) and some villagers who knew him as Hans, a German navy man.
I loved how both visions (Aro's memories of the past and Aro's reality put on film) have completely different styles in storytelling (realistic and raw, without a single bit of drama in his Guatemala days and more fictional, almost poetic in a beautiful b/w for his past), cinematography and music (the directors avoid the use of music for the adult Aro and use it in a dream-like fashion for the young Aro), even the performances and direction are different. There is the strongest spot in the movie: the performances. Some may think a completely breathtaking character like Aro Tolbukhin may give an actor the role of a lifetime, and they are probably right but I wasn't as surprised by the mostly silent Daniel Giménez Cacho/Zóltán Józan/Aram González trio of performances as I was by all the female characters, from Sister Carmen played beautifully by Carmen Beato and Aro's sister, Selma, played by Eva Fortea and Mariona Castillo. I think this happened (female being more amazing than male) because women were the most important element in Aro's mind. His entire life was changed constantly and intensely marked by women who abandoned him: his mother who died at birth, his sister who died tragically in a way Aro would NEVER forget (you'll see why) and sister Carmen, who he loved in many ways we discover through the film. The Aros were silent and their work was reduced to intense inner monologues we are seduced into translating and participate in. The man of the hour, Daniel Giménez Cacho, in an award-winning performance (Ariel 2003 along with Carmen Beato and a nomination for Eva Fortea), was, of course, extraordinary and enjoyed his character to the fullest, taking us to places we didn't want to go in a sensual, hypnotizing way. However, after waiting over 50 minutes to listen to him, he disappointed me by being unable to pull off the "Hungarian from a Bulgarian family impersonating a German speaking Spanish which he learned in Guatemala from a Catalan nun" accent I was expecting from him. Something as tiny but as important as an accent ruined the last part of his performance because he had a challenge to overcome: sharing screentime with the actual Aro Tolbukhin. Both Carmen Beato and Giménez Cacho were given the challenge of creating and performing these characters when seconds ago we were introduced to the real sister Carmen and Aro, and along the way we are sent back and forth from the real characters to the actors. Beato pulls it off perfectly but even if Giménez Cacho also manages to survive this battle, by the moment he speaks for the first time, everything falls appart. His performance is still among the greatest I've ever seen but it could've been in the top 3 if it weren't for that damn accent.
Another complaint: the language. Most mexican people complain about how some movies portray mexican characters speaking English ("The Alamo", "Frida" and some Golden Era movies about Zapata and Juárez come to mind) but we can't respect other people's languages? That's ironic. I thought, by the names of the young actors playing the Tolbukhin siblings, they were going to speak Hungarian but, if they were already using a lot of different languages to tell the story (the interviews are in Hungarian and Catalan), why do the kids speak perfect Spanish? Aren't there enough cute kids in Hungary? It's a useless, stupid complaint but I needed to get it out of my chest, sorry.
Overall, the movie is a outstanding work of research and beauty and even if the format may alienate some of the audience, you have nothing to fear: it never gets too slow or too quiet and there's always a piece of madness in the mind of one of the most wonderful man on film in the last decade.
At the end of the movie, you'll realize many things: not only the reason behind Aro commiting all those murders (and the way he did it) but also the answer to the question in every single character's minds: why did he confess some crimes he didn't do? The answer is right here, and it's one of the most compelling things I've ever put my eyes on. Aro was a murderer but the reasons behind every death in his life are logic and stunning. Wait and see.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
Full Review
Audience Member
escena de ls hermanos al inerior de esa arbol gigante... memorable
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/16/23
Full Review
Audience Member
veridicamente cruel y majestuosa interpretacion d cacho.. el hace la movie
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
Full Review
Audience Member
No se si haya algo de interes que comentar sobre Aro Tolbukhin, salvo la actuacion de Daniel Gimenez Cacho, es una trama donde se justifica (o explica) los asesinatos que cometio este personaje. Recomendable solo para personas que gusten del cine donde se pondera lo psicologico sobre el propio acto de matar
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
01/16/23
Full Review
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