White Elephant
Elefante blanco
Argentina, Spain, France
2012
113 Min
Color
2.35:1
Spanish
Synopsis
The “Villa Virgin”, a shantytown in the slums of Buenos Aires. Julian and Nicolas, two priests and long-standing friends, work tirelessly to help the local people.
Julian uses his political connections to oversee the construction of a hospital. Nicolas joins him following the failure of a project he was leading in the jungle, after paramilitary forces assassinated members of the community. Deeply troubled, he finds a little comfort in Luciana, a young, attractive, atheist social worker. As Nicolas’ faith weakens, tension and violence between the slum drug dealing cartels grow. And when work on the hospital is halted by ministerial decree, the fuse is lit… –Cannes Film Festival
Director
Pablo Trapero
Pablo Trapero was born in Buenos Aires in 1971. His feature films are Mundo Grúa (1999), shown at Venezia (Critics Award), and El bonaerense (2002), which was presented at the Festival de Cannes 2002 in Un Certain Regard. He also directed Naikor, a short film premiered in 2001, and Sarasa, a documentary for television (2002). In 2002 he created Matanza Cine, an independent film production company, which produced La libertad by Lisandro Alonso, Ciudad de Maria by Enrique Bellande and La mecha by Raul Perrone. –Cannes
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Displaying 4 of 7 wall posts.
Carlos Filipe Freitas
14May13
Though likeable and interesting, some scenes didn’t put all the excitement possible, evincing some difficulties on maintaining an easy flow and denoting some ups and downs in the narrative. Review and Rating: http://alwayswatchgoodmovies.blogspot.com/2013/05/white-elephant-2012.html
Gidalte Lúcio
5Feb13
Trapero continues his socially engaged mise en scene showing the harsh reality of the cities ( south-american ones) that a few know. Darin, as always, gives a stunning performance with Gusman (who worked with him in 'Carancho'). Renier completes the trio of great actors, but the didacticism reigns for almost all the film not making the audience feel compelled to really understand the whole panel described.
Lucas Granero
26Jan13
El auteur Trapero se mete una vez mas en el fango de las problemáticas sociales contemporáneas de todo habitante de Latino América y sale con una película que de cine no tiene absolutamente nada, sino que mas bien insiste con señalar discursivamente y a través de unos planos secuencias sumamente descriptivos y didácticos el terreno de las villas miseria, donde todo es crudeza y desolación. Eso si, siempre en despampanante 2:35:1, no vaya ser que en Cannes nos abucheen.
Orlando
26Sep12
The performances are predictably terrific and heartfelt, but Trapero aims high and fails with a pretty artificially looking "social commentary" film that pales in comparison to his recent other works.
Carla Oliveira likes this
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