Punto y raya

Elia Schneider, the talented Venezuelan film director, surprised our expectations with "Punto y Raya", one of the highlights of the recent Latinbeat 2005 at the Walter Reade theater in New York. Not being prepared for what to expect, this movie proved to be a winner. The public, at its presentation the other day, seemed to enjoyed it a lot.

"Punto y Raya" is a film that presents us all the factions in a conflict that one hears nothing about in the press, and it has to do with the involvement of the Venezuelan and Colombian armies in their fight to control the drug trafficking between the two countries plus the leftist guerrillas and the paramilitary forces that are all fighting one another, especially in Colombia.

The film focuses on two soldiers, one, the disarming Cheito, a small time drug dealer in Caracas, who is caught selling and as a punishment is made to enroll the army and sent to the border with Colombia as part as the forces patrolling the area. Pedro, a Colombian recruit, who has joined the army to combat the drug problem, is an earnest man. Pedro believes in the system and is willing to give his best in order to see his country free of drugs.

Fate intervenes and both Cheito and Pedro form a bond, as they are caught by the different factions. Cheito is a chameleon, he can change colors and be convincing to whoever happens to be questioning him. Pedro, on the other hand, is an uneducated man whose honesty and integrity are in sharp contrast with the slick Cheito.

The film is delightful to watch because of the magnificent display of acting by Roque Valero, a great new talent to Latin American films and Edgar Ramirez, who is becoming known also to the American movie fans. Both actors deserve success in whatever they decide to do next because they prove in "Punto y Raya" they certainly can act and are totally convincing.

Congratulations of Elia Schneider for giving us a film that will stay with the viewer for a long time to come.

I cannot however agree that this was a poorly made film. Be prepared for a look at how sad it is when governments use their people to fight wars that feel so pointless. I'm no pacifist, but border disputes should be settled with the assistance of brother countries in the region in question. A Latin-American council should be formed to make cross border fighting a shameful sad memory of what we were before we learned better. It hurts me to the soul to think that even one minute of what this film supposes happens in the border between two brother countries is true. I think the film technique was very effective. The effect is that of memories not so much live action. Like many people my memories and dreams are not vividly colored. How strange it seems to me that people live in areas where the agony of unrest is simply the backdrop to daily activities. There's so much left to do in this world and so few people who are willing to stop the greed long enough to help.

While the underlying theme and plots of most war movies are similar, this film at least adds the novelty of this rarely shown, but nevertheless, very critical and crucial world conflict.

I (and the film) refer to the drug traffic/coke labs/Maoist rebels/ Venezuelan/Colombian feud. It's a multi faction civil war that is rarely talked about since, of course, the area is neither in Eurasia or North America. But the coke and crack consumers that keep it going are. So, though dozens of films continue to address Bosnia and the ex-Yugoslavia (close to "Europe" and the Middle East), hardly any have been made about this ongoing war which is even more complicated, and ongoing than any other, and closer to many Europeans and North America drug users than anyone wants to recognize.

This film is a light, comedic way of educating those in the "rest of the world" what those around you may contribute to, if not cause, this war and keep it going, fueled by continued consumption of drugs from South America (virtually all, if not all the coke and derivatives, plus marijuana, with a sideline of Ecstasy production, this last drug not native to the area). It is also an interesting take on Venezuelan/Colombian relations along the long, drug, and guerrilla infected border they share.

The film is not at all a sermon about this subject. I personally make it a point in this comment to highlight why the film is so unique, so worth watching. All this, in addition to its being a wonderful, entertaining film, showing human qualities and frailties which can be appreciated anywhere.

Truly exceptional, this film has been a hit at all the festivals it's hit so far. Here in Brazil, it was a hit in Rio in September, and is on the list of the top ten most-voted films at the S. Paulo Festival in October/early November. Highly recommendable!

transitively latinamerican and borderline dramatic, punto y raya hit us as a fairly well told story about friendship altering people's life. of course there's a movie about this little hypothetical war between countries, and the intimate war between two guys for a long-time-no-seen-virgin-girlfriend, but mostly it's about two enemies trying to stay alive through extreme circumstances: the war itself, the jungle, crazy women living in colombian guerrilla camps, and a pair of boots they shall share. the best thing about this film is elia's work with actors direction, pushing them through the adventure and making them seem not only believable but amazingly genuine. a great direction and production work from one of venezuela's most prolific film dupla (novoa-schneider), actually our favorite (our respects to garimpeiro and huelepega)for its perfect inclusion of humor inside a drama environment.

Punto y Raya (Step Forward) went definitively beyond my expectations. It's a very original story, which counts with outstanding performances and has an implicit message about how important friendship and loyalty are during difficult times. Taking place during a (not that far from reality) situation of real tension in the Venezuelan-Colombian border, Punto y Raya makes viewers go into the story, which develops as a drama, with many touches of that typical Latin American kind of humor. The several awards that it's won in different international festivals are very well deserved, and this is a movie which is really worth watching, because it's one of the good productions with the "made in Latin America" stamp.