El muerto y ser feliz

El Muerto is the story of a Spanish murderous called Santos (Jose Sacristan) in Argentina who one day becomes aware on the upper floor of a hospital in Buenos Aires of his approaching death , as he is suffering three Cancers . He decides to escape, to flee towards the north and across Argentina. This last cross has no specific destination. Only matters movement and sensation of extreme freedom, but above all, the feeling to leave behind only the last moment of life. The protagonist picks up a rare and mature woman called Erika (Roxana Blanco) and together travel throughout the lands of Argentina, she will be his rider. That's why he serenely moves forward her , he meets a companion . In this paradoxical movement of avoiding death while rushing towards her, he meets an agreeable companion .

Strange film dealing with an interminable road movie starred by a hit-man , an ill killer who is continuously injecting morphine for his tumors of brain and pancreas . This movie is the story of a hit-man who does not murder , a story of guns that don't do fire, dogs and roads . His long wondering, being similar by many aspects to a modern novel of cavalry , as he is a killer of his condition, he is intimate with death . Rare flick , its has a few gaps and is slow moving , but anyway, it is compensated with the great performances from Jose Sacristan and Roxana Blanco . The film is narrated by a continuous and annoying voice in off , as when director Javier Rebollo saw the first cut, he realized that José Sacristán had made the character of Santos, a hit-man, much more lovable that Rebollo and her co-writer Lola Mayo originally intended . That's the main reason why Rebollo and Mayo recorded a constant voice over trough the whole movie, to try to neutralize Santos's charm. The motion picture was deliberately directed by Javier Rebollo who previously realized shorts and two films titled Lo Que Se De Lola and La Mujer Sin Piano .

¨The Dead Man and Being Happy¨ results to be a hot homage to a great actor , Jose Sacristan , a Spanish player with a long career , about forty years , in which he has been playing all kind roles . As José Sacristán was born in 1937 , Chinchón, Madrid . He is an magnificent actor and occasionally director, especially known for Un Lugar en Mundo (1992), Éste Es Mi barrio (1996) and El Viaje a Ninguna Parte (1986). He is married to also actress Leonor Benedetto. Other important films he performed are the followings : Un Hombre Llamado Flor de Otoño , Niñas.. al Salón , Reina Zanahoria , Acto Posesión , Asignatura Pendiente , Hasta Matrimonio Nos Separe and Parranda . Furthermore , Sacristan directed three acceptable films : 1977 Yo Bajo en la Próxima, ¿y Usted? , 1987 Cara Acelga and 1983 Soldados De Plomo .

In this story of a Spanish hitman in Argentina who is dying from a terminal disease, and his relation with a homeless mature woman, the excellent performances by the leads and the attractive itinerary through the country, build this strange road movie, but the narration (which is sometimes funny) becomes annoying after a few minutes. I guess some may enjoy this very much, but I prefer "Lo que sé de Lola" y "La mujer sin piano"... Oh, I miss very much the films directed by Javier Rebollo from the screenplays written by his ex-companion, Lola Mayo (whose voice is used here as narrator). Both did not make a new movie after parting their ways, until 2023, but they are not contributing anymore...