Le vent en emporte autant

This is one of the greatest movies I´ve ever seen. If you like cinema, you´ll like it as much I did. It´s funny, but it´s also touching. It´s a movie about people who see movies, but essencially a film about people... and movies.

Rio Pico is a little town, not far away from Buenos Aires, but nothing really happens over there and the population is in no way ahead of the modern things in the world. When Soledad (Vera Fogwill), a female taxi driver from Buenos Aires, got stuck in the town by a car accident, things are changing. It was never the goal from Soledad to stay in the village but she got embraced by the inhabitants who are asking her to be the presenter of the local film journal which is shown in the local filmtheatre. The filmtheatre is the sole way the people have to escape from reality, even if all film copies are the ones who are rejected by the bigger Argentinian cities. "El viento se llevo lo que" (be translated as "Gone with the wind") is a hilarious top comedy that only got spoiled by the entrance of French actor Edgard Wexley (played by the overrated Jean Rochefort)who is the local film hero. Apart from that is "El viento se llevo lo que" a wonderful piece of world cinema in where director Alejandro Agresti (already a filmmaker in Argentinia since 1978) seeks a satisfying balance between hilarity and the hard truth. A South-American pearl that is recommended to anyone who loves world cinema.

The first time I got acquainted with the work of Alejandro Agresti was his movie 'Buenos Aires Vice Versa', a quite stunning movie about day-to-day life in Argentina. His next movie 'La Cruz' proved a more funny effort, but with 'El viento se llevo lo que' (in Dutch 'Door de wind gejaagd') Agresti paints a portrait of an isolated village in Argentina, whose only contacts with the outside world (i.e. the capital) are the movies that are brought in by motor. The cinema is like the central place to be. The village is populated by a bunch of very eccentric people with their own little histories. The arrival of a young woman and an old, renowned actor (who featured in most of the movies the village people have seen) set the place ablaze and very soon things start happening... Very good acting, warm characters, beautiful panoramic views of the landscape and some nice humor make up for a nice viewing experience. And underneath it all the attentive viewer can detect some cultural and political criticism too, which adds some bonus value to this movie.

A very clever movie, with loads of references to nouvelle vague stuff. This film lets you wonder about the effects of cinema on society, as the villagers turn into their filmheroes, but since they are edited backwards, upside down and in the wrong order, the imitated heroes become quite hillarious. Some of the characters are very interesting, especially the local film critic. Agresti hates critics, and this can be found in the interaction between the critic and the B-actor/hero, a tragic drunkard, who visits the village one day. Loads of sub-themes make this movie very lively, although some of them are not that interesting. The criticism of the argentine dictature and the introduction of television are not that great.

All goes wrong however when the infamous actor actually enters the village. One of the important points in the movie is the complete isolation of the Patgonian village, but since the actor arrives by train this fantastic concept falls totally apart. Worth a try though, or, in the spirit of the film: try a worth.

The film is about Soledad a cab driver that get tired to drive in Buenos Aires and decided to get out of the city and end on small town who is completely isolated from the rest of the country. The only contact with the reality outside the town are the movies and these are old and mixed. There are really strange characters on the movie. It's really worth to watch it.