El Conde

I'm still not too sure what to make of Pablo Larrain's "El Conde", a movie that while artistically impressive, seemingly has a ton of historical context that's lost on anyone not familiar with the Chilean history it tries to critique and satirize. The obvious is that it portrays Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a centuries old vampire, and while what follows could(?) hold a lot of interpretive value to those who are of its ideal target audience, it is almost a gimmick gradually overstaying its welcome to those who aren't.

It's undoubtedly a visual masterpiece, with some of the most surreally beautiful cinematography you'll ever see, and its exploration into themes of power and corruption are amusingly perceptive. But at the end of the day, it feels like "El Conde" was intended for a particular audience who could fully appreciate the movie, and unfortunately to those of us who aren't part of it, it might come across as just another gimmick.

It is a strange film which is hard to fit any label or classification. It has great merits, but still disappointed my expectations. It also travels through multiple genres not fitting well any of them, for better or worse: gore horror, dark humour comedy, political satire, and even political thriller. Visually, the movie is very nice and Pinochet's portrayal is astonishing (how similar with the military devil makeup turned Jaime Vadell!). I loved all the vampire origin stories in Ancien Régime. It was also quite good to have a timeline drawn through Haiti, Cuba, Russia (Pinoche always against the revolutionaires)... it would be great if it were more explored indeed. The bad character of all members of the family and of the torturer butler was well depicted. However, the film also has serious drawbacks. The script is unbalanced and should have been tighter. Pace is irregular, alternating awesome moments with quite sluggish parts. The behaviour of the characters seemed too inconsistent too, being hard to understand their motivations, and not because they were deceiving them. The interviews by the exorcist nun were slightlty unconvincing as sonething to actually happen, but they did allow the script to mock and denounce a lot the multiple crimes (from corruption to murder) of Pinochet's family and their impunity.

Great premise; oddly executed. Chile's brutal fascistic former leader Pinochet was actually a vampire who started as a soldier in Napoleon's army. This film takes place while he's living in seclusion after faking the death all the world thinks it had witnessed. The Church sends a brilliant young nun there to try saving whatever soul may lie within him, and snatch what she can find among his massive hidden wealth for the Kingdom of God. His non-vampiric wife and five middle-aged children have their own financial aspirations, gathering in anticipation of the REAL death the old guy now wants. Pinochet can't remember where he stashed all the documentation of his global holdings, accounts and investments, so the hunt begins.

This setup could have played out as a zany farce, mocking real-life historic figures, as was done in the delightfully caustic satire, The Death of Stalin (2017). But this pursues a completely opposite comedic direction. It's shot in extremely gloomy B&W, in bleak and barren settings resembling a ghost town in a desert. The lack of color links it to the seminal vampire flicks of the 1930s -'40s, tones down the visceral impact of the gory stuff, and amplifies the craven aspects of human nature. Film students may admire the techniques for sustaining such extreme understatement.

This may unfold too slowly and subtly for many, but the satire hits multiple targets, with a wonderful bonus twist in the last 20 minutes that rewards one's patience.

Pablo Larraín in his excellent black comedy offers us here an act of commitment to the most basic desires and thoughts of the dictator, murderer, coward and thief Augusto Pinochet, at a time when the entire progressive and left-handed world is quick to consider him dead.

Larraín shows us that this Beast acted in the name of justice, which cannot be reduced to law or right and deep down he never cared at all what the rest of the people thought. It elevates greed to the highest motivation in the spirit of Pinochet. That was Pinochet's great work in Chile, in transforming us into heartless and greedy beings. Pinochet is more alive than ever. Jacques Derridá would say "the specters of Pinochet fly over Chile."

Many people in Chile not only forgive the 3,000 deaths and 200,000 tortured, in fact, they applaud him and many of them even condemn the fact that he would not have murdered more left-handed people.

But what they don't want to believe and go into denialism is all the money that this criminal stole. They would never forgive themselves for that and that is why the Neanderthal brain of the fascist majority in Chile blocks these facts and ignores them. Because a hero would never be a professional thief like Pinochet was.

EL CONDE (2023) - Director Pablo Larrain (SPENCER, NO) grew up in Augusto Pinochet's Chile and has used that backdrop to inform his work, but never so directly as in EL CONDE - although, with a major twist. In EL CONDE (The Count), Larrain makes Pinochet a literal monster: A vampire who, even after death, is still sucking the soul out of the Chilean people.

Larrain, working with frequent screenplay collaborator Guillermo Calderon, has fashioned a true horror film. Gory and full of grotesque scenes, but, at it's core, it's a pitch black satire. It's not the first time that Larrain has taken such a fanciful tack with a 'bio-pic', his fabulous 2016 NERUDA turned the life of the namesake poet into a Film Noir thriller. EL CONDE is narrated in English and compactly traces Pinochet from his youth 250 years prior in France to his reign in Chile from 1973 to 1990 (Pinochet actually did have family roots tracing back to France). The bulk of the story takes place in the years after his official death (2006). Pinochet (Jaime Vadell) is living in a decaying old mansion with his long-time right hand man and butler, Fyodor (Alfredo Castro) and his less than loving wife Lucia (Gloria Munchmeyer). Pinochet's brood of ingrate children have gathered to divy up the family fortune which, in true dictator style, was largely stolen. An accountant, Carmencita (Paula Luchsinger), has been summoned to oversee the financial skulduggery. Carmencita is a nun and she functions as the 'Van Helsing' of the piece. She's also doubles as an Exorcist of sorts.

The movie is shot exquisitely in Black & White by the great Ed Lachman (CAROL, VIRGIN SUICIDES). Lachman's work truly ascends when the Count takes flight sweeping over the landscape like a dark overlord. A later, first flight of a vampire, is one of the most soaring sights in a film this year. The sound work here is exceptional with a surround sound symphony of creaking floors and rotting detritus. The classically based music score adds to the gloom and doom. Visually, Larrain and Lachman make references to films such as Carl Dreyer's JEANNE D'ARC (Actress Luchsinger bears a striking resemblance to Falconetti) and VAMPYR. This count isn't content to just drink the blood of his victims - he consumes their very hearts as well.

The theme of vampirism is an obvious metaphor, but Larrain handles it well, with delicious dark touches. Still, he can't help but let things get a bit too fanciful and drags in everything from Marie Antoinette to the Falklands war to a surprise cameo. It muddies things up a bit and extends the allegory a bit too thin, even as it strikes a strong blow about the permanence of evil.

EL CONDE is a stirring movie, that doesn't fully hit its marks, but it does so with masterly style and intellectual vigor.