Días de Santiago

this low budget flick is 10 x better than 80% of Hollywood films out there in every way. the acting is what i love best about this film the lead actor has to be good in a film like this since it focuses on his life and he is almost perfect. the film keeps you on the edge and my only disappointment was the end as i was sad to see it i was expecting a little more. another thing i liked about this is i never got bored even though there isn't that much action it keeps at a good pace all the time.

the script is good the directing is good i can find no other real faults with this film i recommend this film

Lima, Peru. If you ever been there you will recognize the sad truth about that city: poverty and misery all over. For a movie coming from Peru, I think it was very good, but it cannot stand with international standards: most of the actors were pathetic:) Now, don't understand me wrong, the movie is nice, and I recommend it, BUT is still far away from the Italian neo-realism (It is indeed a neo-realist film..) and WAY far away from the Taxi Driver, that many people compare it with. The streets and the atmosphere from Lima was caught very good on the screen using some black and white images alternating with colored ones, but other than this, don't expect anything spectacular.

7/10 - one of the best Peruvian movies.

I just saw this on HBO in the US tonight. this film grabs you and pulls you along. the cinematography is competent and in no way flashy. but you feel like you are there. you can really empathize with the main character Santiago. this film simply rings true in all its aspects. this is one of the best movies I have seen in years. I don't know much about the actor who portrays Santiago (whether is very brilliant or brilliantly typecast) because I have not seen him in anything else. his performance in this movie was just excellent. frankly there were no weak performances from my perspective. Sounds like I really loved this movie doesn't it? I did.

PS: this will quickly be dated but if you are hooked up to adelphia/comcast cable in the US they are listing this movie inexplicably/erroneously as "a day without Mexicans"

Dias de Santiago (2004)

A total slice of life movie showing a lower class (and probably very common) family in a poor section of Lima, Peru. The main character has come back from three years in the military (fighting guerrillas and Ecuadorians, he explains) and he can't get a job, can't fit in. This is the plight of soldiers world round, and the core of the whole film noir content in American post-WWII films. So it matters, it's powerful, and it's believable.

It also doesn't especially rise above its daily horrors--Santiago trying to keep in control, seeing his violent brother beat his girlfriend, having the same girlfriend seduce him as she asks him to kill the brother, finding the father having sex with Santiago's little sister, and lashing out against his own girlfriend, who is pretty decent overall, wanting an ordinary life.

But an ordinary life can't seem to be found, or not easily, as he looks for a job. There is no one blamed in particular, just a spotlight on how hard it is for people to readjust to life after years away doing the military's bidding. And it's in that navy, for Santiago, that he felt needed and powerful and capable. Other ex-soldiers meet up with him and try to get him to rob a bank with them, but Santiago is a paradigm of the good man, trying to be kind to women, defend the innocent, and get a job. Life is just not always cooperating.

For a U.S. citizen living well and aware of my luck, and some education and hard work but mostly being in the right country in the right century, and really felt for the dilemma of this man. And I made it relate to the similar plight of my own countrymen and women, here, as well as in countries everywhere. Is there something more that can be accomplished to make things more open and helpful? Does the military have a role to play in the transition to civilian life?

To some extent that is the point of the film. It doesn't go anywhere in particular, just paints a horrible situation and a humble, determined man pushed to the edge by circumstances. Shot in a cinema verite style so common now, it might even pass for a slight documentary at times, except for some unnecessary flipping between black and white and color. This film won't be for everyone, but it's a strong example of its type, and important for its origin in South America.

Recommended by a journalist from a communist country during a film festival I had some initial hesitation regarding watching this film. However after having seen this highly artistic film,I am ready to say that it is one of the most original films made in recent times.I find it difficult to swallow the comparison made with US film "Taxi Driver". By making such a weird comparison people are belittling this film.My favorite moments from this film are the confrontation scenes. They bear testimony to the fact that a person besieged with problems has to fight ferociously to overcome all troubles. Some of the sequences had a dream like air to them.To a layman the title of the film "Days of Santiago" suggests how he passes his days.But to a serious film goer it denotes the entire past,present and future life of Santiago. Peruvian actor Pietro Sibylle is a great attraction of this film. The troublesome feelings of anger,hopelessness, frustration, anxiety and despair are much too visible on his woebegone face.A truly valid reason to watch this film.