Los Fuertes

The beauty of cinematography, the precise acting, the shadow of history, the reactions of community, the realistic portrait of family are the basic virtues of this bitter- sweet film , a love one but , more important, a honest, direct image of loneliness, adulthood basic, fundamental traits , beauty of dialogue and the feel to be part of story for viewer. A film about honesty to become yourself with entire soul.

The film takes place in Niebla, an actual town on the southern Chilean coast. Lucas has come from Santiago to visit his sister, a dentist at the local medical clinic, before he heads off to architecture school in Montreal. The area is full of old Spanish forts, which he goes around sketching. Antonio is a fisherman who dreams of owning his own boat, who also takes part in re-enactments of the victory Chilean rebels had over the Spanish in their war of independence. The two meet and fall in love.

While there is homophobia to deal with, the biggest problem with "happy forever" is their different visions of what life each wishes to lead.

The director made good use of the area's actual history. I have sailed the islands and channels of southern Chile, and the scenery brings back fond memories. The action is authentic - both between the principals, and in scenes of everyday life.

'The Strong Ones' as it is called in English, doesn't provide anything particularly new for queer cinema fans but what it lacks in originality the film makes up for in mood, charm and location - the Chilean seaside town is definitely a character unto itself. It's a well known tale, for both queer and heteronormative cinema, a character returns to their family to resolve issues from the past before moving far away indefinitely. During their short stay they find passionate love and face the decision of whether to continue on their planned journey or remain with this new love. There's nothing wrong with this formula but its been done a lot. This film certainly has similarities to God's Own Country and Weekend but is less gritty and more romantic than both of those films. There are moments where potential drama is hinted at but then never followed through with or used to raise the dramatic stakes. It's a gentle story, a happy one for the most part and that could be all the filmmakers wanted to achieve. In this frequently harsh world I guess it's not such a bad thing for a film just to be nice. Other positives are the two leads who are compelling and charming to watch. Their attraction feels authentic and a couple of sex scenes are tastefully handled yet arousing. There is also a sweet relationship between one of the men and his grandmother. As queer cinema goes this is definitely one to watch particularly when you are looking for something comforting, familiar and well made.

I have watched this wonderful film several times. Just far apart in time to make it new and fresh. But the depth of the story, the acting and the cinematography is such that new things are discovered each time. This takes place in a wet place, lots of rain. Cold. I can feel it as I watch. And so on. This is not just another gay man love story although heaven knows we can use as many as we can get. There are many kinds of relationships shown and once again we find the difference between they that stay and they that go. As one who left I feel the pain of both sides.

Los Fuertes (2019) is a Chilean film written and directed by Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo. It was shown in the U.S. with the translated title The Strong Ones.

Samuel González portrays Lucas, a young student of architecture who visits his sister in the Valdivia region of Chile. It's there that he meets Antonio, who works on a commercial fishing boat. Antonio is played by Antonio Altamirano. The men are gay, and are attracted to each other.

The plots plays itself out as the men come to terms with their relationship, prejudice against gays, and the fact that Lucas is leaving Chile to study in Montreal.

This is a film that cries out to be seen on a large screen because the Chilean landscape is so beautiful. However, it's a movie about relationships, so it worked well enough on the small screen.

We saw Los Fuertes via ImageOut, the wonderful Rochester LGBTQ Film Festival. (Virtual this year.) The movie has a solid IMDb rating of 7.2. I though it was even better than that, and rated it 9.