El ciudadano ilustre

Being an Argentine (sans the Nobel prize as the main protagonist achieved) away from Argentina for over 43 years I could totally relate to the topic of this movie. I liked the main character in how clear he is about his convictions, his work, his principles and how all of this clashes against the bureaucracy, guilt, jealousy which awaits for him when he comes home... The movie is a great study of change and lack of change. His travel brings him perspective and intelligence ... The main character is a writer who forces himself to go back to his birth place and finds a world which has not changed and which projects onto him what they want him to be. This may happen to many of you writing when you go back home after not being there for a while... this movie is an extreme case of that: going back from a first world to the third world he came from. (Not Buenos Aires but a small town 500 miles from B.A.)

Black comedies are a difficult movie genre. They have to get the tone exactly right, otherwise they are either not funny enough or too much over the top. In this respect, 'El ciudadano ilustre' is perfect. It's understated enough to be subtle, and surreal enough to make you laugh. It has this quality in common with that other Argentinian surprise from three years ago, 'Relatos Salvajes'.

'El ciudadano ilustre' is about a Nobel-prize winning author living in Spain, who decides to accept an invitation to become honorary citizen of his hometown, a sleepy backwater in the south of Argentina in which all of his novels are set. At first, it is unclear why he decides to accept this invitation, and only in the final minutes of the film this question is more or less answered. This nice twist at the end is the cherry on the cake.

The author, used to being admired and praised everywhere he goes, has to adapt to the less sophisticated way of life in his hometown. Already during the drive from the airport, he is in for a surprise. The car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and he is forced to tear his latest novel apart in order to use the pages for lighting a camp fire. It's symbolic for the lack of respect the local people have for his novels. Some of them are not extremely enthusiastic about the way their town is portrayed.

His visit starts a series of unexpected events, in which art, sex, violence and local politics play a part. But the film's bizarre story line is not its only quality. Above all, it's the way the local community is shown. In one small scene, the author is sitting on a street bench when an old man appears from a nearby house to bring him a cup of the Argentinian drink 'mate'. He drinks in silence, returns the cup to the man, who re-enters the house. End of scene.

'El ciudadano ilustre' is a wonderful film, highly recommended for anyone who likes understated humor and surreal situations.

Predictable, for sure, but there were quite a few funny moments throughout the film that managed to win me over. I commend the lead (Oscar Martínez)for the subtlety he brought to this role in order to make the part(and the situations)convincingly amusing. Understanding or navigating the nuances of a foreign culture, even when the culture is from one's own childhood, can be a tricky task.

Few movies have achieved to be as visceral and deep as this one. Without failing to keep your eyes on the screen until the last scene, besides making you laugh, panic and hold your breath countless times, A Distinguished Citizen questions the role of the artist, his ethics and his commitments. Mantovani, the main character, confronts his origins and his own creatures face to face, outside the artificiality of his new life as an European and a very well-succeeded writer. What comes from there is the source of his art emerging again: in the mediocrity of the Latin American little town's facts (and his repercussion on them), the whole system of art comes into question. Is the writer really able to stand for what he believes in and what has earned him a Noble prize? Should the artist violate real people in order to make his art relevant? This movie proves itself consistent with its plot by providing sturdy answers instead of falling into mere nihilism or sarcasm.

This is a perplexing story from Argentina about fame and the fact that as Thomas Wolfe advised, you can never go home again. A pampered writer, in fact, a Nobel prize winner, impulsively decides to return to his native village which he left half a century ago without ever returning. He longs to revisit where it all began and our sympathy is with him because who hasn't longed to retrace the paths of life to see what might have been? The provincials in his home town pull out all the stops to curry favor with the man, lectures are scheduled, there's a parade,, he asked to judge the local art contest and they erect a hastily improvised statue of him. But instead of understanding their jealousy of his fame mingled with their genuine pride in his accomplishments, he pompously mocks their country ways and their longing to escape from the monotony of provincial life. Suddenly the tables are turned; we see the the bumpkins as honest and fallible human beings even if they lack the will and talent to escape, and the writer is revealed to be the pompous ass he probably has always been. This transformation is very skillfully done in a film that is at once funny and sad. Highly recommended.