Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) - Virginia Eufemi
Mexico, on an unspecified date, drug traffickers have taken over a desert area of the country. In a trailer near a baseball stadium live a father and his eight-year-old daughter (Matilde Hernández Guinea); the man (Rogelio Sosa) must maintain the field - whose order is at odds with the surrounding chaos - and serve the ruthless gang of drug dealers. In this square of a world ravaged by violence and terror, there are no more women. They've been kidnapped, like the mother and older sister of our little protagonist and narrator.
For this reason, the girl's father names her Huck, dresses her as a boy and often makes her wear a helmet and mask to hide her gender. Huck often wears a long ankle chain, because «everything gets stolen here». The father-daughter duo manage to survive, despite the fear and recurrent hide-and-seek games to escape the narcos, until the gang leader decides to throw a party.
Julio Hernández Cordón's feature film, presented at the Directors« Fortnight in Cannes last May, had its Swiss premiere last night at the NIFFF, in the »El Dorado" category, which brings together the nuggets of Latin American genre cinema. The particularity of Cómprame un revólver is Huck's view of this violent, merciless reality. The subtlety of this film lies in the fact that the adult viewer, who sees this world through the eyes of the little girl, is perfectly aware of what is going on, despite the innocence of his gaze. When the gang members, armed to the teeth, arrive wearing little flowery dresses over their bullet-proof vests, we imagine with horror the fate of the owners of these dresses. However, nothing is really said or explained, and it's up to the viewer to do all the work.
And therein lies the film's strong point: the violence is not displayed or exposed, but suggested, making the scenes all the more powerful. Above all, Julio Hernández Cordón skilfully plays with the genre's codes and the viewer's expectations. This Mexican-Colombian feature film constantly surprises us, the outcome is never the one we had imagined, the director masters predictability and upsets the rules of the game, while maintaining a strong sense of realism.
Cómprame un revólver is about the luck that seems to come with some people, but also about the friendship between Huck and three Lost Boys who are waging war against pirates. We perceive the distress of a father who, despite his shortcomings, tries above all to protect his daughter as a loving father. What stands out is the courage of the children in the film, who are growing up in a reality that has hardened them and robbed them of the carefree spirit of childhood. However, Huck retains an element of innocence that protects her from the horrors she experiences, which makes the character all the more touching.
Finally, the film gives women an interesting place: a «statue of mothers» represents absent mothers, who seem to be exploited, but whose real fate is unknown to us. What we do know is that, if the reality of Cómprame un revólver seems to us to be the consequence of male power, women seem to have a subtle presence that makes us think they occupy a more important place in this society. But what if it wasn't women who dominated this reality? See the film on Friday July 13 at NIFFF.
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Write to the author : virginia.eufemi@leregardlibre.com
Photo credit: © NIFFF
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