Aro Tolbukhin - En la mente del asesino

ARO TOLBUKHIN:IN THE MIND OF A KILLER is fascinating in its detail but less than compelling in its execution.

I never felt that I was in a killer's mind, but I did feel the need to know more. Which is why I kept watching.

Unfortunately, not much of any great interest transpired.

Villaronga, he of IN A GLASS CAGE fame, was one of the directors of this docudrama and I sensed that he'd clipped his wings in order to take the subject on.

With compelling subject matter like GLASS CAGE and MOONCHILD, Villaronga shines, but with material like this and EL MAR (THE SEA), he seems stifled and produces turgid, paceless celluloid that's more snooze-worthy than gratifying.

Count me disappointed, though I eagerly await the director's next move.

Aro Tolbukhin burnt alive seven people in a Mission in Guatemala in the 70's. Also he declared that he had murdered another 16 people (he used to kill pregnant women, and then he set them on fire).

This movie is a documentary that portraits the personality of Aro through several interviews with people that got to know him and through some scenes played by actors based on real facts.

"Aro Tolbukhin" is a serious work, so analytical, it's not morbid at all. Such a horrifying testimony about how some childhood trauma can turn a man into a monster.

*My rate: 7/10

The film blends documentary and fictionalized sequences to tell the remarkable story of a Hungarian sailor's mental deterioration. The film traces his pathology to his childhood in Budapest while detailing murders perpetrated in rural Guatemala in the 1980s. "Aro Tolbukhin" easily engages the viewer's interest . The filmmakers provide a visually arresting portrait of a serial killer that is psychologically accurate and rich in characterization. Kudos to all involved. May this film receive wide distribution.

After seeing several movies of Villaronga, I had a pretty clear opinion about him -- he concentrates too much on the personal aspect of the characters, forgetting about a rhythm of the movie. That is why, though having good critics, his movies never caught the broad audience attention. In ARo he follows the same line, but really improved on the rhythm, especially in the end of the movie. Frankly speaking, I slept through the first part, cause though the first part gives necessary information, it is really slow. Nevertheless the second part is absolutely marvelous and makes the whole movie the best movie ever made by Villaronga.

Recommended.

There's so many things to fall for in Aro Tolbukhin. En la mente del asesino (Inside the killer's mind), that it's very hard to talk about it without giving any kind of warning. Let's just say that this movie is like an exercise in cinema but really, really great done. It´s made with super 8, black and white shots, 35 milimeters, color, interviews, flashbacks. Aro Tolbukhin it´s like a movie made a documental or viceversa, which most peculiar aspect relays on the doubt that leaves you wondering, did he really ever existed? The movie follows the later life of an hungarian sailor that arrived in Guatemala, worked in a religious mission and then killed some people. An act for which he got caught and death penalty sentenced. The movie starts because some french documentalists got interested in this character so they interview him prior to his death. Nowadays, some more people got involved and make a deeper research of the character. The one we are witness of -the movie.

For the main part in the history we are guided by a semi slow phase to go look inside Aro´s mind, mainly in order to decode why he did what he has done. Nevertheless, the important thing is that the filmmakers never gives us a sided point of view; they left the judging for all of us and even as we may understand his actions, we clearly never justify them. So, the first half is based upon recollecting information; later things turn into Aro's childhood, giving the movie such an incredible new force (even tough never got weak or boring).

I don't mean -and don't want- to spoil anything; so the only thing left to say is that if by any chance you get this movie near you, believe me, the trip to see it is more than worthy.