El abrazo partido

"Abrazo Partido" is one of the better Argentine films that have reached us. Not having a market in the USA, if they are not shown in a film festival, they are not seen at all. The director, Daniel Burman working on the screen play with Marcelo Birmajer, shows he is a talent to be reckoned with.

The movie presents us with a small mini mall that one encounters all over Buenos Aires. The story is about all the operators of the tiny shops in the complex, but focuses on the Makaroff family. Elias Creations is operated by Sonia, a woman whose husband has deserted her and the two small sons. Elias, the husband has gone to Israel to fight in one of the wars and never returned. His memory looms large, especially in the case of Ariel, who secretly loves him, but resent the abandonment of the family.

The camera work is incredible. The director gives us an excellent idea of the area of the neighborhood that at one time was dominated by the European Jews that emigrated to Argentina.

Daniel Hendler, does a wonderful job in portraying Ariel, the young man who wants to do just the opposite of what his family did: return to Poland. The family left the horrors of their country by settling in the friendly atmosphere that Argentina offered at the time. Now, during a difficult time, the grandson of the original family wants nothing of his precarious life. His dream is to try his fortune in Europe, Poland, only being the excuse for getting an European passport that only his grandmother can provide, having been born there.

Adriana Aizemberg plays the mother, Sonia. Ms. Aizemberg is wonderful as the mother who is so full of life and suddenly sees the world, as she knew it, coming apart. The grandmother, Rosita Londner, is also appealing.

A new talent emerges in Argentina.

In Buenos Aires, the twenty and something years old Jewish-Argentinean Ariel Makaroff (Daniel Hendler) has quited the architecture university and spends his time wandering through the downtown gallery where his mother has a lingerie shop and his brother runs an importation business; shagging the owner of a little Internet business; and trying to get his Polish passport and move to Europe. Ariel has never understood why his father left him when he was a baby to fight in the Yom Kippur War in 1973. When his father returns to Buenos Aires, Ariel discovers the reason why his father left his family.

"El Abrazo Partido" is a disappointing little personal drama with uninteresting and dull characters and awful camera work. The lead character Ariel is an alienated shirker and his motivations in the story are never clear, since he does not study and has no work; no religion in spite of being Jewish; no sense of nationalism; no girlfriend (he left Estela without any reason); no respect or feelings for his family; no nothing but intercourse with the next door neighbor in the gallery Rita and an apparently interest in having an European passport. His mother, his grandmother, his brother, his father, the neighbors in the gallery, none of these characters is interesting. The style partially recalls the Danish filmmaker movement Dogma 95, since the movie is done on the location; with ambient sound; use of hand-held camera; colored with no use of filters; very realistic plot; etc. However, the hand-held camera work is awful, recalling "The Blair Witch Project" or "Cloverfield" and the division in parts with subtitles seems to be a pretentious trial of intellectual style. But the acting is great and my vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Abraço Partido" ("The Broken Hug")

This movie was very intricate, to the point that I was confused at times, especially in the beginning. There was very little use of music also, which made the majority of the movie feel empty in a way. I think that it perfectly paralleled Ariel's feelings toward his estranged father. He felt a lot of animosity toward his father because it seemed like he left Ariel and his mother without a valid reason. Since Ariel was the main character in this film, it caused the viewers to take his side, and sympathize with him. That is why I found myself feeling hatred toward his father as well, and when he appeared at the race, I felt that something terrible was going to happen since I viewed him as a bad guy. This opinion of him was formed too prematurely, and at the end when I discovered the truth about Ariel's father, I felt remorseful. It is definitely important to keep an open mind when you are watching the movie, especially for the first time.

Actually I'm from Lithuania and I was interested in this film, because from the film synopsis and credits I have learned that it shows lives of Eastern European immigrants in Argentina and Lithuania belongs to Eastern Europe. Maybe you don't know, but in first part of XX century there was big flow of emigration from Lithuania to South America. So I was very surprised, when I saw girl from Lithuania in film speaking ... Russian when film credits indicate that she is speaking ... Lithuanian. Next thing, her name is Vilna and there is no such Lithuanian name. Perhaps it was made up from name of Lithuanian capital Vilnius or misspelled from Vilma. In America, especially USA, people from Lithuania are regarded as being Russians, and for Lithuanians who were occupied bu Soviet Union it is an insult, but it does not relieve director or script writer from responsibility to check about subject depicted. Especially when film pretends to be in reality style. Cinematogapyhy and storyline is good, I do not argue, but poor analysis of the details casts doubt about reality value of this film and its pretensions to social criticism.

"Abrazo partido" is a very subtle, true to life story about the middle classes in Buenos Aires after the economic crisis 2001. Those that have been to Argentina will undoubtedly recognize some of the beautifully stereotyped protagonists: the melancholic youngster, the budding bric-a-brac entrepreneur, the disillusioned pensioners recalling Argentina's glory days, the disrespected immigrant labourer. These characters make this idiosyncratic country, and indeed this movie, so likeable. Even the people's underlying optimism and the love for their country, which -in the light of Argentina's demise- may surprise visitors, shines through. I highly recommend the movie 9/10.