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Violin (The)
R1 - America - Film Movement Review written by and copyright: James Teitelbaum (13th August 2008). |
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The Film
 Film Movement is a very cool subscription service that sends out a new DVD every month, each containing a complete indie film as well as a short film that often compliments the main feature in some way. "The Violin" is the sixty-second film in the series (it is year 6, film 2). "The Violin" begins with the soldiers of a corrupt and greedy government (we never find out which one) raping and torturing peasants who may or may not have information about the whereabouts of guerrilla revolutionaries. After this grim introduction, we meet Plutarco Hidalgo (Ángel Tavira), and elderly man who is missing a hand. He travels with his son and grandson from their rural village to a small town. While Plutarco plays his violin (with the bow strapped to his stump) in a cantina, his son plays guitar, and his grandson begs for change. It seems as though the impoverished peasants have little going on outside of scraping together a few coins from their music, but there is something bigger going on. Plutarco's son is part of the revolutionary faction, and is involved in the acquisition of weapons to aid in the cause. The Hidalgos are in town on a secret mission to secure arms. Arriving back at their own village, the men discover that the soldiers have taken it over, forced most of the residents to leave, and abducted the wife and daughter of Plutarco's son. Going into hiding in the hills, their revolutonary mission to overthrow the soldiers becomes as desperate as ever. Plutarco hatches a hare-brained solo plan to retrieve some ammunition left hidden in the occupied village, and in the process he loses his beloved violin to the capitan of the government forces. In a stroke of luck, the capitan (Dagoberto Gama) decides that he likes Plutarco's rather tuneless and miserable violin playing, and invites the old man back into occupied territory to perform regularly. This gives the old man a chance to do some spying, and gives the guerrillas the key they need to launch their plan. "The Violin" is a rather atmospheric tale that moves along very slowly for what might, in other circumstances, have become a thriller or an action film. The film is simple in story, and the characters - although performed with skill by all of the cast - all behave rather consistently, doing just what we expect them to. The strength of "The Violin" is not in its plot twists, action, or character development, but in the tension that is slowly wound up during each of Don Plutarco's visits to the occupied village, his former home. By his final visit, things have grown much worse for his descendants, and the last scene between Don Plutarco and the capitan could not be much more tense. After the rather graphic opening scenes, director Francisco Vargas avoids showing any further violence or gunplay, but the threat of it is always present, right up to the penultimate scene.
Video
The film is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The inventive cinematography on "The Violin" is by Martín Boege and Oscar Hijuelos, who conjure up some great black and white imagery that reminded me a lot of Robby Müller's amazing work in Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man" (1995), except that the camerawork in "The Violin" is a bit shakier. One virtuoso moment is a tracking shot that lasts for almost three and a half minutes as the Don tells his grandson the backstory leading up to the beginning of the film. The camera tracks from the boy's face to the ground, across some leaves, up a tree, and finally settles on the full moon. The film is presented well, with nice rich blacks and a basically clean transfer - except for an infuriating bit of hair stuck in the gate during the very last scene of the film. Running time is 1:38:33, divided into 12 chapters.
Audio
"The Violin" is presented in the original Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo with English subtitles. The most noteworthy thing on the soundtrack is the screechy and discordant fiddling, which is recorded a little better than I'd like: it can be rather painful at times.
Extras
The Film Movement has released this film with an additional short film, a promo spot, some biographies, the film's theatrical trailer as well as some bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. "Un Bisou Pour Le Monde" runs for 9 minutes 16 seconds by Cyril Paris is this month's short film. A schoolteacher (who is way too young and pretty to be as uptight and downright mean as she is) has trouble with one of her students, a rambunctious young Romeo. After ripping up a newspaper in class, the young man is instructed to tape it back together, and gets all William S. Burroughs on us, cutting and pasting the headlines back together in a manner more to his liking. A fantasy sequence follows. This is a cute little film, but I have a peeve against nine-minute short films with opening credits a minute long and ending credits lasting three more minutes. Stella Artois Presents: "Devil's Island" promo spot is next and runs for 1 minute 32 seconds. This feature is presented as being sort of an additional short film, but it is really just a beer commercial. If corporate sponsorship is what is keeping this series going, then so be it; at least they are being tasteful about it. The disc also includes text bios of director Francisco Vargas plus stars Ángel Tavira, Dagoberto Gama, and Gerardo Taracena. Also included is the film's original theatrical trailer that runs for 2 minutes 3 seconds as well as bonus trailers for: - "The Bothersome Man" which runs for 2 minutes 9 seconds. - "Arranged" which runs for 2 minutes 16 seconds.
Overall
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