Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 20:19, 13 November 2017

The Strategy of the Snail (Template:Lang-es) is a 1993 Colombian comedy-drama film directed and produced by Colombian filmmaker and director Sergio Cabrera. The film stars Frank Ramírez, Florina Lemaitre, Humberto Dorado, Fausto Cabrera and Carlos Vives. The film is a winner of the Berlin International Film Festival and the Biarritz Film Cinema Festival of Latin America. The film deals with the hardships of lower income families in Bogotá, the breach between rich and poor, and their interactions in a highly stratified social system. The film was selected as the Colombian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 67th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

Plot

The film starts with news reporter Jose Antonio Pupo (played by Carlos Vives) interviewing a man after the movie events had taken place. This gentleman named Gustavo Calle Isaza 'El Paisa' (Luis Fernando Munera), who is also a tenant, comments on the illegal evictions to which several tenants are subjected and their lack of strategy and reveals to the journalist how the physical house where the tenants lived for so many years was taken to a different place by rudimentary but ingenious means. The man's story in interwoven with the depiction of the events.

Six years ago, the building (known as La Casa Uribe; The Uribe House) is an old one in the center of Bogotá and it is home to different kinds of people. All of them are humble and from diverse backgrounds. They are told to leave the house because its owner only, a financial known as Doctor Holguín, a obnoxious, rich man from Bogotá's exclusive area, has new plans for it when he does not really care about the house. The Casa Uribe had an old house also known as 'La Pajarera', whose tenants try to resist the illegal eviction in head of the judge Díaz (Edgardo Román). The tenants are confronted with the authorities who are trying to evict everyone from the building. Then, the tenants decide to take a stand by locking doors and shooting at the policemen who try to carry out their orders. After a confrontation with police, a boy, son of a woman tenant dies during the shooting and therefore is veiled in the street.

During the funeral, a Spanish Republican anarchist exiled named Jacinto Ibarbuen tries to convince the attorney of a strategy to avoid what happened to the residents of La Pajarera and Romero warns that he and the other tenants of Casa Uribe are the next ones to be evicted, but Romero, despite having legal arguments to win, can only gain time and Romero warns that he and the other tenants of Casa Uribe are the next ones to be evicted, but Romero, despite having legal arguments to win, can only gain time. Jacinto with his strategy warns that with her they earn their dignity and asks Romero to do his thing but to have faith in the people and not only in the laws. Doña Eulalia, another neighbor tries to ask Romero for help thinking that her husband Lázaro can die at any time, so they ask for help from Calle Isaza to find out if he is still alive.

The following morning shows the daily life of the tenants of the house among which are also Justo, a militant of the left; Doña Trinidad 'Misia Trina' (Delfina Guido) ; Gabriela, a travestiste, among others. The tenants are legally represented by "Perro" Romero (Frank Ramirez), who is extremely annoyed by anyone using the nickname "Perro" meaning dog. Romero is a man with some academic background and has the means to deal with the authorities and Dr. Holguin's (the house owner) lawyers represented by the corrupt Víctor Honorio Mosquera (Humberto Dorado). Meanwhile in a rich sector of Bogotá, Holguín scolds Mosquera for his actions in the eviction of La Pajarera, but Holguín believes that the tenants of Casa Uribe are peaceful people and demands that the eviction of Casa Uribe be in a few days. Through a joke, Romero has that Mauro, the court secretary, tell him that Mosquera forced the eviction of Casa Uribe. However, Romero decides that Lázaro is at the moment the only legal remedy to avoid the eviction. The judge Díaz, accompanied by Mosquera, Romero and Mauro, corroborated due to Mosquera's doubts, who offered to pay the hospital to Lázaro to effect the eviction, but Eulalia refused as wife, so the judge suspended the eviction.

Jacinto shows a model of his strategy to Romero, while Mosquera, following orders from Holguín, invites Judge Díaz to lunch in order to carry out the eviction in ten days. Romero warns his neighbors tenants, but Jacinto to see the notification of the court breaks it and shows his strategy to everybody. However, the tenants did not believe either in Romero or in Jacinto's strategy. Don Justo believes that this strategy was unorthodox, but that Jacinto would have to convince everyone of his strategy, which would only require the construction of two wooden cranes with ropes and pulleys. Jacinto shows "Perro" Romero how it can be done by the use of a rope and pulley, which he does by demonstrating him how the pulleys and ropes are used in theatrical stages to lift very heavy weights. He does this on the stage of the Colon theater. But Doña Trinidad does not believe and decides to pray to the souls of purgatory being a very religious lady. Jacinto decides to mount the cranes; one in the yard of the house, and the other in a neighboring abandoned house that only has a caretaker. Romero asks the thief Dimas (Antonio Aparicio) to suspend his robberies, while Jacinto decides that the also tenant Diogenes, seller of mirrors and glass, is the one who watches and that the whole move is moved in a single day despite the opposition of Justo who asks to move all at night, to which Romero responds that the nightly moves are illegal. While Doña Trinidad prayed, who was the fiercest opponent of Jacinto's project, accidentally the painting of the souls falls and finds the silhouette of virgin Mary on a wall finally agrees with the condition of having the virgin moved first. Doña Trinidad sees as a miracle but Jacinto asks her for discretion, but as an exception, Doña Trinidad confesses the appearance to Fraile Luis who is not sure if the image on the wall is a miracle. Romero believes that the Virgin appeared to Holguín and Mosquera, but Jacinto thinks that the Virgin appeared to the tenants to try the crane.

With Doña Trinidad convinced, Jacinto is able to convince the rest of the tenants so everyone becomes a team player and helps in the construction of a tall wooden tower that would help move everything to another house couple of blocks away. For do this they carry out the strategy of Jacinto; they begin to build the cranes. But despite the enthusiasm of the tenants, there is still a lack of tools to build the cranes well. Gabriela tries to distract the friar by inviting him to a cafe and Fray Luis discovers that Gabriela is actually a man but even so Fray Luis discovers the crane and reacts confused. Jacinto named him treasurer to get money, and Archimedes; a tenant who is cycling gives you to pawn his trophy. Romero then talks to the guard of one of the abandoned houses who authorizes him to use the patio and the 'air space' to carry out the strategy. Gabriela tries to confess to Fray Luis, but she, unable to do so, returns to the house and offers her bathtub for the weight and resistance test of the cranes, resulting in complete success. Then Jacinto accompanied by Romero, Justo and Arquimedes decide to buy a property located in the mountains of eastern Bogota and ask another tenant, a coachman (Topolino Zuluaga) to help them after loading all the components of the house. To earn even more time, the other tenants change the nomenclatures of the addresses in the street where the house is while Romero warns that the deadline in which Lázaro and even could legally avoid the eviction.

At the next day Romero objects to the new eviction attempt, making it appear that the address is not that of the house, the police lieutenant (Jairo Camargo) corroborates it; so the house officially does not exist and therefore Judge Díaz suspends the eviction and then demands the allegations against Mosquera, and Mosquera vows revenge for this. Immediately to this, Jacinto organizes the tenants to remove everything inside the house (walls, windows, bathtubs, kitchens, toilets, roofs, etc.) and have all of it moved to a piece of land located on the hills of eastern Bogotá. Above all, the tenants take as main piece the wall where the image of the Virgin and two days later is being pulled out by cranes onto the courtyard of the neighboring house, during the men of Holguín make cut electricity to home.

Dr. Holguin uses dirty tricks to create pressure on Romero to the extent that he is kidnapped and beaten by Dr. Holguin's men. Fray Luis tries to convince Gabriela to resume his identity of Gabriel to which he responds not to be sure Fray Luis tries to convince Gabriela to resume his identity of Gabriel to which he responds not to be sure but ends up being Gabriel and resumes his work in a gas station, where Mosquera arrives and the Holguin thugs who throw a Romero chain to a small sewer but Gabriel picks it up. Meanwhile another tenant finds a 'treasure'; several gold religious items in a chest. Later the police find Romero beaten in a dumpster and take him back to the house. After Romero and Jacinto discuss the day and the season both in Colombia and in Spain, he decides not to remember who hit him, even though Jacinto and the others suspect that they were Holguín's thugs.

Later the police find Romero beaten in a dumpster and take him back to the house. After Romero and Jacinto discuss the day and the season both in Colombia and in Spain, he decides not to remember who hit him, even though Jacinto and the others suspect that they were Holguín's thugs. Holguín invites Judge Díaz to eat sushi and comments on how Bogota's upper class during and after the Bogotazo left the huge mansions in the center to live further north and reveals that they do not know or care whether Casa Uribe is recoverable as a monument. During a mass celebrated in the house by Fray Luis, Jacinto warns that there is very little time to continue with the strategy so they decide to try to get an extension to the court, the next day there Romero and Jacinto hardly convince Judge Diaz of it and the house and the tenants wanted to paint the house as a way to apologize for any inconvenience they might have caused, to which Mosquera agrees. Holguín disagrees with the judge's decision. The next day Jacinto and 'El Paisa' manage to sell the religious items and this accompanied by Fray Luis try to get a reduction with the moving trucks. On the other hand the coachman convinces his colleagues to help Jacinto. Then Jacinto and Dimas buy several dynamite cartridges from a butcher, but being accidentally in advance, Justo shows his disagreement while the other tenants continue with the dismantling of the house. Jacinto and Romero convince Gabriel to be Gabriela again. Mosquera shows Holguín his eviction operation and Holguín decides to give him the legal advice of a business he will do if his operation results. At night while Jacinto talks to the tenants how to continue before the eviction, Eulalia covers his wife Lazaro with pillows and kills him with a shotgun to avoid their continued suffering, and Jacinto decides to take his corpse so as not to watch him in the street.

After going through a series of events and hazards the tenants are able to remove all the insides of the house, but in order to gain more time. On the day of the eviction, a few hours after the eviction, the components of the house and the coffin with the cadaver of Lázaro as the deadline approaches, the tenants have removed everything inside the house and have moved it to the hills by using horse-drawn wagons, informally known in Bogotá as zorras while Gabriel, returning to be Gabriela, has the mission of seducing Mosquera. Meanwhile in the territory where the house was; Jacinto and Arquimedes sow the dynamite while Justo begins to paint the walls. Shortly before the eviction, 'El Paisa', accompanied by his serpent 'Pirujita', gives an interview to a news program that is present in the place; counting to gain time as he was the last inhabitant of a town called Santa Sofía del Darien, which had been uninhabited after a rumor of the arrival of a cruel military man known as Captain Montoya, in times of La Violencia. Mosquera falls into the trap of Gabriela delaying the arrival of the lawyer to the eviction. He even shows his disagreement with the dynamite used by Jacinto who decides that if the house is not theirs, it will not belong to anyone. Mosquera arrives at the house at the moment when 'El Paisa' reveals the dirty maneuvers of Holguín and sings the national anthem of Colombia when he sees Mosquera arrive. Jacinto warns Romero while Gabriela reveals himself to be Gabriel before Mosquera and Holguin and flees with Hermes on his motorcycle. Holguín despises Mosquera thinking he is gay and stupid. Romero when presenting himself as the tenants' lawyer renounces his role as defender and leaves the place. At the moment when the judge asks the police to take the house, Jacinto and Justo are the last ones to leave the house next to Archimedes who lights the dynamite and burns the wooden crane. Only the external façade of the house was left which falls. By the time lawyers, policemen and Dr. Holguin himself eagerly approach the house to witness that the tenants have actually left they are surprised by a huge explosion and the collapsing of the house's facade. After the dust and debris have dissipated they find a house painted in a wall with a graffiti style writing superimposed that reads "AHÍ TIENEN SU HIJUEPUTA CASA PINTADA" -- "Here's your motherfucking painted house."

The movie goes back again to news reporter Jose interviewing the man who is finally upset by a reporter's question and so who explains that the strategy was to enforce their dignity. he leaves the scene who explains that the strategy was to enforce their dignity. Finally the tenants are shown gathered in one of the hills with a panoramic view of Bogotá and a Colombian flag can be seen waving while in the background, Romero and Jacinto say they must build the house on the premises by law and that having a house of their own has been the dream of the tenants.

The film is dedicated in honor of the journalist Silvia Duzán who collaborated in the film but before its premiere she was killed by paramilitaries when she made an investigative report.

Production

The film was originally envisioned by Ramon Jimeno as an inspiration based on a story he had read in a newspaper, about the removal of tenants in a house whose legal procedure had taken such a long time that by the time the authorities had to intervene they realized that the house no longer existed.

Although Jimeno had envisioned the movie several years before it was screenwriter and actor Humberto Dorado who finally shaped it into a dense 400 pages screenplay, that eventually became the original screenplay and a blueprint for the film. Later after the majority of it was filmed, screenwriter Jorge Goldemberg came as an editing consultant and restructured the film, but it was not only until Nobel Prize Gabriel García Márquez saw the pilot of the film and encouraged Sergio Cabrera to continue with the making of the film. Because of budget problems and the lack of support of the Colombian government the film took four years to be fully completed . In fact by the time the Colombian government was actually shutting down the cultural organizations that supported filmmakers such as Focine.

The film was shot in Bogotá's downtown with several scenes filmed in the depressed areas of the eastern hills.

Cast

• Carlos Vives - José Antonio Pupo: A journalist who investigates Gustavo Calle's famous snail strategy.
• Frank Ramírez - "Perro" Romero: A lawyer not yet graduated, also a tenant of Casa Uribe who defends the interests of his fellow tenants. Maliciously nicknamed "El Perro" (The Dog) for being attached to the laws.
• Fausto Cabrera - Jacinto Ibarburen: An exiled republican anarchist spanish who manages the strategy of the snail; bring the house on his back disassembling and taking it to another location.
• Vicky Hernández - Eulalia: A middle-aged woman who lives with her disabled husband Lázaro.
• Ernesto Malbran - Lazaro: The sick and invalid husband of Eulalia.
• Florina Leimatre - Gabriel/Gabriela: A good-hearted transvestite helps the strategy.
• Humberto Dorado - Víctor Honorio Mosquera: Corrupt and naive lawyer of Dr. Holguín
• Victor Mallarino - Dr. Holguín: Arrogant and cocky financial person who wants to evict the tenants of the house to make it a national monument when he really does not care about the house.
• Luis Fernando Munera - Gustavo Calle Isaza "el paisa": Smart tenant who has a snake as a pet. Tell the story of the strategy to the journalist Samperal beginning and end of the story.
• Edgardo Roman - judge Díaz: Corrupt judge who carries out the evictions.
• Sain Castro - Justo: Militant of the left who is not very in agreement with the methods and ideas of Jacinto.
• Delfina Guido - Misia Trina: Religious woman who has lived for 50 years in the house. Although he does not want to leave her, he has a vision of the Virgin Mary and decides to support Jacinto's strategy.

Release

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Strategy of the Snail" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The film was released in Colombia on December 23, 1993 and it has been critically acclaimed because of the way it depicts the realities of Colombia's strict stratified way of life. The film has won several prizes, it was the winner of the Golden Spike in Valladolid's Film Festival and several others.

See also

• List of submissions to the 67th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Colombian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

References

1. "The Strategy of the Snail". NY Times. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
2. Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

External links

• The Strategy of the Snail at IMDb

• 1993 films
• Colombian films
• Spanish-language films
• Films about anarchism
• Films set in Colombia
• 1990s comedy-drama films