Cordero de Dios (2008)

Note des utilisateurs:

6.8/10   

Réalisateur:

Lucía Cedrón

Writers:

Lucía Cedrón (writer)
Santiago Giralt (writer)
(suite)

Release Date:

7 mai 2008 (France)

Genre:

Drame

Plot:

The kidnapping 77-year-old man in Argentina forces his daughter to return to Buenos Aires after years of exile abroad. |

Plot Keywords:

Exile | Kidnapping | Father Daughter Relationship | Dictatorship | Mother Daughter Relationship

Awards:

11 nominations

Avis des utilisateurs:

To be or not to be...Contradictions

Ensemble

Mercedes Morán	...	Teresa 2002
Jorge Marrale	...	Arturo
Leonora Balcarce	...	Guillermina
Malena Solda	...	Teresa 1978
Juan Minujín	...	Paco
Ariana Morini
María Izquierdo
Ignacia Allamand
Ana Celentano
Horacio Peña

Réalisé par
Lucía Cedrón

Scénaristes (in alphabetical order)
Lucía Cedrón		writer
Santiago Giralt		writer
Thomas Philippon Aginski		collaborating writer

Produit par
Serge Lalou	....	co-producer
Lita Stantic	....	producer

Musique originale
Sebastián Escofett

Image
Guillermo Nieto

Montage
Rosario Suárez

Création des décors
Cristina Nigro

Création des costumes
Marisa Urruti

Maquillage
Marisa Amenta	....	makeup artist

Directeur de production
Bárbara Sampietro	....	production manager

Technicien du son
Guido Berenblum	....	sound director
Lisandro Rumeau	....	foley artist
Victor Alejandro Tendler	....	sound director
Nerina Valido	....	sound editor
Jean-Guy Veran	....	sound re-recording mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Nuria Besser	....	first assistant camera
Lluis Miras	....	video assist
Guillermo Nieto	....	camera operator
Martín Velasco Noli	....	second assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Soledad Cancela	....	assistant costume designer
Marianela Goette	....	assistant costume designer

Production Companies

• Les Films d'Ici
• Goa Films
• Lita Stantic Producciones

Distributors

• ABC Distribution (2008) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Alfa Films (2008) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Argentina Video Home (2008) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Cinemien (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Homescreen (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Autre(s) titre(s):

Agnus Dei (France) (International: Latin title)
Lamb of God (International: English title)

Durée:

90 min

Pays:

Argentina | France

Langue:

Espagnol

Couleur:

Couleur

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Son:

Dolby Digital

Classification:

Argentina:13 | Netherlands:6 | Peru:14 | Belgium:KT | France:U | Mexico:B

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Argentina

Company:

Les Films d'Ici

To be or not to be...Contradictions

I fear that this is a movie of many contradictions, at least for me. I watch Argentine cinema with a lot of emotion, always hoping for the best; and frankly "Cordero de Dios" is far from the best our cinema can deliver. However, I feel inclined to analyze the contradictions it presented me. It is a movie I somehow feel I knew by heart, but not because of the story. Probably because of the rest; it's a movie that seems to have been made for me, and I wasn't expecting it.

Lucía Cedrón, free of all fear, came along with an original idea that has to do with the subject our cinema has always come back to and has had more problems in treating: the dictatorship of the 70's. Cedrón wrote and directed the film, but it may all be a trick, because the story is set in our times. Guillermina (Leonora Balcarce) receives a call saying that her grandfather Arturi (Jorge Marrale) has been kidnapped (the director shows the unnecessary but apparently obligatory kidnapping scene) and she's asked for ransom money…A lot of money.

Instantly, a key player comes into the scene: Teresa (Mercedes Moran), daughter of the kidnapped man and mother of Guillermina, coming all the way from Paris. The kidnapping is crucial, but we never see where Arturo is being kept or what's being done to him. The action unfolds in a big house where Teresa used to live in the 70's and in which Guillermina lives now.

The past and the present start to mingle without indication of temporary change; we see a younger Teresa (Malena Solda) in the same house, her husband Paco (Juan Minujín) and a little Guillermina; we also see a lot of Arturo in the past. We want to know what's really happening in both time periods, but we can't. There's always tension among all the characters, even when they clearly love each other.

What's mainly wrong as we watch the film is the indecision Cedrón has for what she wants her movie to be. There's a clear visual search, an esthetic thing with the windows and the doors-courtesy of cinematographer Guillermo Nieto, usual collaborator of Pablo Trapero-, the presence of secrets and things unsaid, unclear images here and there; but there's no real tension, no emotion. Every framing is too planned, to studied, and if we feel emotion is because we know we should.

The importance of the dictatorship period slowly seems to fade. Cedrón backs down from the apparent main idea; her script and her images are neither inside the feeling of the dictatorship (like Adrian Caetano's brilliant "Crónica de una fuga") nor in the middle of it (like Marcelo Pineyro's "Kamchatka"). The fundamental period of the country suddenly seems a mere context of a powerful, painful family story that could belong anywhere as long as there are windows and doors and big houses around, and people talking about the present and the past. Therefore, I feel a little betrayed, because the movie also has chances to make this time period seem more than just an excuse, but wastes each one of them.

I'm not saying Cedrón is not brave or that her search has no merit; but she shows herself too pretentious and self-important for a first time director. I want her story to belong to a different time, because whenever Mercedes Morán is on screen I want to clap my hands and thank her for doing everything right; because when the film's most important revelation finally happens, the camera is on the right place and we can feel something close to an emotion (a shock, at least).

Because the ending is perfect; one of the best endings of this decade of New Argentine Cinema, if there's still such thing. As I said, contradictions… "Cordero de Dios" should be New Argentine Cinema, but it never feels like it. It looks like it is faking it.