La virgen de los sicarios

Our Lady of The Assassins will have you either loving it or hating it. It polarizes because it never compels as a movie itself, but is laid out before each person, needing him or her to internalize the film. The movie speaks of living in a Columbian drug town and the irony as people get shot everyday by moral-less teens set against the beautiful city and sky. But the main character, an old gay writer, is never engaging or as articulate and thoughtful as one would expect from the "best known grammarian" from Columbia. In fact, as grammar is rigidly structured, so are the writer's banal comments about 'time being what you want it to be' and 'life only being lived to die.' The musings have been heard before, but with greater clarity and depth. There is no epiphany to be associated with any of his sayings. However, he meets a young former gang member, marked for death, named Alexis and they fall in love. The film is so detached that their love is the closest element to emotion, and still one cannot understand why this boy would sleep with a man who incessantly whines constantly. The shocking life in Medellin is the most compelling aspect of the movie and the movie still has points, it's just that they are not nearly poignant enough. They are shown by the director, but never cohesively placed into an argument. I really wished I could have liked this movie.

I saw the film at the Jerusalem Film Festival. It was a rather late screening, but the viewers were glued to their seats. It's a very gripping movie and extremely subversive in themes, language and visuals. It's very anti current-day Colombia, and no wonder the production didn't go very smoothly. Still I admire the support the film got from `official' institutions in Medellion. It's subversive in themes, because we basically have a gay couple, an older man (about 40-50) who indulges in having sex with minor boys (who do this willingly, and yet, it's rather shocking to the average viewer) in return for financial support, or rather indulging the boys in whatever they want to do. The couple goes around the city and is critical of every facet of the city – and rightly so – yet the tone is overtly cynical and `evil'. The lead boy, Alexis, goes around and kills whomever is threatening him and his sugar-daddy – I think he executed 4 people once a confrontation was about to happen, and 4 more were other kids who were after him. S this shooting spree is depicted in a somewhat accepting manner, as if this is the way to do these things in Colombia. They ridicule almost every aspect of life – church, police, government, the drug lords, poor and beggars, the bourgeoisie, other gays, and even themselves. In that respect, it's a very Pasolini movie, although the realism here is a real one and not made for the sake of a socialist agenda. The writer and his two boy-lovers are very lost, although they always know where they are, and the ending is pretty bad, as expected. The film shows no hope for the Colombian people, as they are stuck in a country ran by corrupt officials, gangs and drug lords. The writer has great lines, one of my favorite was about him hating people who whistle, because they shouldn't try and imitate the art that was given to the birds… A good movie, with a 7/10 as far as I can say. Acting-wise – since I don't speak Spanish, it was credible to my ears, though the boys did seem to quote their lines mechanically at times.

The film is set in Medellin (Colombia) where an old gay man called Fernando (Jaramillo) who after many years ago he has gone back . In a homosexual brothel meets and befriends Alexis (Anderson) a teen at 16 years old and starts a romance with him . He's a gunboy who kills too easily , he unscrupulously murders everybody create him problems . Fernando is struggling to flee him the ominous underworld plentiful of dangers , odds and murders .

The picture deals about adolescents and children from Medellin . This city was under incredible violence and ruled the strongest law . Pablo Escobar has been detained and his drugs empire has been dismantled and the factions are spread engaging war each other and making an orgy of vengeance and killings . The movie is a thought-provoking and intelligent studio of juvenile paupers and an unflinching observation at the underbelly of Medellin city where teens and children are dragged into a life of crime become assassins . The flick contains emotions , records , strong violence and a little bit of critical social . The tale belongs a group of films which describe the unfortunate life of south-American youth as ¨Pixote¨ (Hector Babenco) and ¨City of God¨ (Fernando Melleires). Principal actors interpretation are outstanding , in spite of being novels players . Jaramillo is magnificent though relies heavily on the continuous philosophical speeches about his sense of life . The picture is an adaptation based on a semi-autobiography novel by Fernando Vallejo . Barbet Schroeder direction is awesome and stylish , he's a notorious Hollywood director (Murder by numbers , Reversal of fortune) realizing rightly this video- film .

Hi, I was reading about the comments of the movie "La virgen de los sicarios"... some people think that there is bad acting in this movie, and i am disagree absolutely... I live in Cali, Colombia and i can assure you that what you see in the film is exactly what you can see in the real live in some poor parts of the colombian cities... i am talking about everything: the way people talk, the way they move, all is very real... if you live in this country, you can understand that the actors in the movie are not acting... they are living!!! because that what you see in the movie is what we are in Colombia. Thanks for your attention.

Our Lady Of Assassins showed at the Brisbane International Film Festival. It left me initially distraught and other members of the audience obviously felt the same. After a bit of thought, I realised that it was indeed a powerful and beautifully created way of presenting the desperate nature of life in Medellin. The main character, who was born and raised in the town, remembers how potentially violent it was even 40 years earlier, yet seems to be shocked by how much it has decayed. It is strange that he is also quite complicit in inciting violence, while seeming to be just looking for love.

The film forces the audience to question the day to day value of life and just how much violence we can allow ourselves to tolerate. But in Medellin the solution is certainly not in the hands of just one person.

A great trio of films showing the broad story of the cocaine phenomena would be "Our Lady Of Assassins", Ted Demme's "Blow" and "Traffic".