El coronel no tiene quien le escriba

In a poor village in Mexico, the Colonel (Fernando Luján) lives with his asthmatic wife Lola (Marisa Paredes) in an old house. Lola still grieves the death of their son Augustin some time ago. The colonel has been expecting for his pension of fighter in a war against Catholic church for almost twenty-seven years. However, for political reasons, the present government wants to forget this old fight. Without having any possession or money, but a valuable gamecock, they struggle to survival with the expectation of the acknowledgement letter from the government, recognizing the law and paying for the delayed pension. This slow and touching movie reflects the social and financial situation of most of the elder retired persons in third world countries. In Brazil, most of the retired persons has to survive with about US$ 80,00 per month. The debts of the colonel in the story were made to pay for a graveyard for his son, otherwise he would be buried as an indigent. Outstanding performance of the cast, in a very sad story that is reality in the poor countries. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): (`Não se Escreve ao Coronel') (Do not Write to the Colonel)

A sober, reflexive piece, a little miniature which blossoms into a magnificent humane pictorial sequence which goes beyond a mere dramatization for the screen. This quiet little story will hold you enthralled - if you do not have too many problems with the various Spanish accents ranging from Mexican to Peruvian, and Marisa Paredes' more authentic Iberian Peninsular usage! Garcíadiego has accomplished a perfect adaptation from the novel: even the grand maestro García Márquez should be proud of her superb work. And hats off to Arturo Ripstein who has so ably concerted the whole effort into a gem, a ruby, and so refined, so elegant, so sensitive, so touchingly.....

El Coronel - Fernando Luján - is waiting to get his pension, while he continues to live in his ramshackle timber dwelling deep in the Colombian jungle (however, filmed elsewhere, NOT in Colombia) with his fighting cock and his wife (in that order?). And that is all there is to it.

But, oh, so much more.... This film is a rhapsody.

I must see this poetic little piece again as soon as possible. Worth the high side of 8 out of 10, which is very high on my scale.

This is not light commercial Hollywood stuff.

If you have never read any of the author's books and wanted a taste of them before reading any and what you did was to watch this movie, you probably will stop one fourth or so into the movie wondering what the hell? Should you wish to discourage someone from ever reading any of the books, show them this film. Admittedly it would be a challenge to put the Buendías on the screen -and it would be amusing to see it done with Hollywood megabucks- but it would have juice and entice curiosity -this one doesn't. This movie can only be appreciated and liked -not enjoyed- after becoming familiar with the author's wider work. There's a movie version of a story by García Márquez (Yo solo vine a hablar por teléfono)with a memorable nurse Ratched on steroids in it, María de mi corazón, which I'd say you can start with. Then you can try this one.

a bit slow and boring, the tale of an old man and his wife living a delapidated building and interacting with a fixed cast of characters like the mailman, the brothers sitting on the porch, the wealthy cigar smoking man. The photography of the river is marvelous, as is the interior period decoration. If you like decoration of Banana Republic stores, this is a must.

What is it about Marquez that his films have failed to capture the beauty, magic and wonder of his stories? It seems like the guy writes a script out of everything, even his laundry list. Of course the best thing he's ever written will probably never make it to the screen(One hundred years of Solitude). The only other film that's noteworthy was The Summer of Ms. Forbes. Until now. It was about time that a great auteur took a crack at a Marquez Story and Ripstein is the genius to do it.(Tiempo De Morir was okay, but he was 21 when he made it and not yet a great film maker. Ripstein has crafted a wonderful, moving, luscious story out of "No one writes to the Colonel", a story that I questioned could be made into an engaging film. (Here we go again, a town where nothing happens, it's always hot and time moves painfully slow) Of course it doesn't mean the film has to bore you to death, and Ripstein captures the elements mentioned above and still makes it compelling and captures the immense sadness and social injustice in the story. The music is compelling as well by the American composer Mansfield, of Heaven's Gate.