Der Honorarkonsul

Believe this, I have watched this so many times, but in part. I could spout off lines in Christopher Hampton's script, at the click of a finger. I love the settings for this movie in which Gere, an English spoken doctor, falls for a newly married young woman, Clara (Elpidia Carrillo) who is earlier seen as the whore working at this seedy bar that doubles as a cat house. She's married to the honorary Consul (Caine) unaware of the affair that has sparked between friend and wife. At the start, Gere, just arriving in town, helps another guy escort a drunk Caine from one bar to infamous cat house one. It's here he sets eyes on Clara. The sex scenes are quite hot as passions run high, but Gere has trouble from the other side, involving his past, where two old friends, (one a much younger Joquian Almedia) approach him, with a kidnapping plot to snatch a consul, in return for their fellow South American prisoners to be released. Only problem is, they snatch Caine instead, not a real consul, an honorary consul. Gere, maddened by the idiocy of the mates, remains loyal. Gere's father too, is one of those prisoners, as Gere is innocently led to believe. Caine's actor mate, Bob Hoskins, plays a cop, trying to help Gere track down his old man. One scene has Gere going off at him, when they arrest 250 mentally unsound people under his care and put them temporarily in prison, but Hoskins mellows him. Gere's fate at the end of the this, where the strong arm of the law closes in, was tragic, I must say. His not so badly portrayed doctor, is a sympathetic, goodhearted and likable character. But the heavyweights are Caine, who plays drunk so good and being funny too about it, where no nonsense Hoskins is solid. Elpidia is just pretty scenery really. But really there's something too brief about whole affair of the story here, despite it's good screenplay, and really it's just a passable, but involving drama + those couple of sex scenes. And near it's end too, some of the scenes are quite dark, they disjoint the action. But Gere too is a bit of a bastard in the bedroom, paying the now married Clara cash for her services as if she was still working. Also when going up to Gere's apartment, is her first tome, riding in an elevator. I liked the way Gere wore his jealousy well too, really at the sheer fact, Caine loves her. There's a lot of good scenes to find in the movie and Paul's McCartney's Brazilian intro theme was just beautiful and melodic, as it was soothing. For Gere fans, do put this different and quite enjoyable one one on your list.

Competent adaptation of a typical Graham Greene story, a tale of moral dilemma, forgiveness and redemption in a quasi-fascist South America. Direction and acting are ordinary, although Michael Caine and Richard Gere are at least well cast; Bob Hoskins (an Argentinian policeman!) less so. Not badly done, but slightly detached; Greene packs a bigger punch on the page.

Intriguing music and lighting choices with some good camera movement and angles keep this film relatively interesting on an audio and visual level. However, they do not compensate for the film having quite a limited story of just a lightly developed romance during political unrest. There are political themes and morality issues in it, however they are not too well explained. It is also far too slowly paced, dragging between the story action. It is not a bad film though, and it is arguably interesting to watch… however it misses the mark for greatness. Despite Caine and Hoskins receiving BAFTA nominations for their roles, it is Gere who delivers the most effectively.

With both Paraguay and Argentina under junta governments, doctor "Eduardo" (Richard Gere) returns to his homeland where he quickly befriends the eponymous gent "Fortnum" (Michael Caine) before making even closer friends with his somewhat open-minded wife "Clara" (Elpidia Carrillo). Ostensibly an upstanding member of the community it soon becomes clear that this physician is conflicted, and that comes to an head when his dipso friend is charged with driving the US Ambassador to visit a waterfall. The rebels get wind of this trip and plan to kidnap the visiting diplomat, but they get the wrong man and aren't impressed with the boozed-up light-weight that find themselves stuck with. Still, they can still use him as leverage to have some of their colleagues released from jail, or can they? Does anyone really care about this man who's frankly become a bit of a nuisance, a liability even? The only chance poor old "Fortnum" might have is if local police chief "Perez" (Bob Hoskins) can find where he is being held before his captors lose patience, or run out of whiskey! Caine is on quite good form here as he takes to the role of the alcoholic convincingly, and though he really only features sparingly his is by far the better effort. Otherwise, there's lots of sex between Gere and Carrillo, but their personas remain largely undercooked by a weak script and a rather limited supporting cast who underplay the freedom-fighting elements of the plot and render them a little better than a sideshow. It's really only a vehicle for Gere, this film, and an unremarkable one at that.

Competent adaptation of a typical Graham Greene story, a tale of dilemma, forgiveness and redemption in a quasi-fascist South America. Direction and acting are both ordinary, though Michael Caine and Richard Gere are at least well cast; Bob Hoskins (an Argentinian policeman!) less so. Always interesting, but strangely subdued: Greene packs a greater moral punch on the page.