Pantaleon e le visitatrici

Now, having served 23 years in the military, I have never had the opportunity to have an assignment of this nature. Those damn officers get all the good jobs! I watched this because of Angie Cepeda (Love in the Time of Cholera), but was impressed with the performance of Salvador del Solar, who played the fortunate Captain who got this assignment.

Watching him work out of his element, and try to keep his wife (Mónica Sánchez) happy while he was working with such incredible beauty as Cepeda, was a real thrill, and Solar was magnificent.

The movie was very funny, as you would expect, especially from those who thought the whole idea sacrilegious. Maybe it was, but it solved the problem.

A funny, romantic movie that never fails to amuse and entertain as we wonder if the Captain will falls into the Colombiana's (Cepeda) snares and lose his wife, whether the investigative reporter Sinchi (Aristóteles Picho) will expose the whole sordid mess, whether the Colombiana and Pechuga (Tatiana Astengo), who also loves the Captain will get into a fight, and how will his service record be after all this. Will he get a medal? Ah, the questions that must be answered.

It's not easy to take a successful novel and make a movie based upon it. No discussion about this. The aim of such adaptations should not be to repeat the book on the screen, but take the essence and identify the best suited passages to develop a script. It's a work of artistic translation at many levels.

This movie is excellent. As a comedy it warranties smiles and laughs, as a drama it may reserve some tears over the end, as a documentary it lets you discover many aspects of the complexity of a country like Peru, and visually it will give you a pleasant experience immersing you in the charming Peruvian Amazonia locations.

I don't know how much is lost if you are not able to understand Spanish. As always happens it is possible that part of the value of this film may be lost if you have to spend time off the main action reading subtitles.

To round up the special beauty of the Amazonia, Angie Cepeda provides the perfect match, bringing to the screen all her exuberant sensuality and femininity as "la Colombiana" ("the Colombian"). I can't imagine a better actress for this character. Angie Cepeda by herself is reason enough for any person who admire female beauty to see this movie, not once but many times. You will fall in love with "la Colombiana" as Captain Pantaleon Pantoja does, and you will also understand why Chuchupe (an experienced brothel manager) refers to her as an inconvenience after his notoriety for driving men to suicide. Angie (born Angelica), an actual Colombian from Cartagena De Indias, is with no doubt one of the prettiest and most sensual current actresses. Today, the Colombian Angelica head to head with the American Angelina (turn in this unattractive hybrid of "Brangelina") wins the race for more than a body (and more than just the body).

But look also for Aristóteles Picho as the hilarious "El Sinchi" the radial journalist that is always around troubling Captain Pantoja's mission.

Also pay attention to Peruvian comedian and also pretty actress Tatiana Astengo as the "visitadora" (female escort, an euphemism for prostitute) known as "Pechuga", character honored with this nickname to celebrate, well, her breast (that's one of the meaning of the Spanish word).

You will laugh a lot, cry a little, learn something about Peru, and re-joy your eyes and soul with one of the most beautiful creatures on Earth. What else?!

Besides, you will be able to fake you read Vargas Llosa's bestseller.

I read the book about 1988 and saw most of the movie on TV in Lima in June 2002. The movie captured the spirit of the book very well.

I worked as a civilian employee in a military agency for 30 years. Never during my career did I encounter an officer who was as dedicated and competent as Pantaleon Pantojas. That was the striking feature in the book and in the movie, as well.

Although Iquitos, the city on the Amazon where much of the movie was filmed, is much larger than what is shown in the movie, some elements of the life on the river are reflected in the film.

Can anyone tell me where I can purchase a VHS copy of the movie?

Hugh

Pantaleón y las visitadoras , I saw that movie at the Montreal Word Films Festival 2000 on August 28. I didn't know what to expect at first from the title of that movie , I had no idea what the movie was about. Let me tell you I was agreeably surprised. That movie is based on a Mario Vargas Llosa book is very very good piece on entertainment. The story, the actors and the settings was entertaining and well rendered, this is a very good comedy to me. I would recommend it no question ask to anyone ... I hope that this movie will come out on VHS format so I can buy it and show it to my friends. The only problem with the projection that I have attended was the quality of the actual film, I don't know if it was intended (maybe) or not but a lot of exterior scenes had a yellowish halo to it like if the director would have put a yellow filter over the camera lense and also the quality of the film with some badly made cut overs was questionnable. But overall it was a very good comedy with an original story. Finally let me tell you guys that the actress playing the role of Columbiana, Angie Cepeda, is one hot lady, my god we are not used to see that many south american movie up here in Canada and that latino women is a devilish beauty.

I have seen this movie twice; once in Peru, and the second time in Miami last june. This is an excellent film that has recently been released in major cities like Los Angeles and Chicago. This movie tells the story of Captain Pantoja a very correct and loyal member of the Peruvian army. He is sent to Iquitos, where he is assigned a secret mission; to take care of all the horny servicemen by creating a service of prostitution that will put a stop to all the undesired pregnancies that seem to plague the region. The cast is excellent, and the acting of Salvador Del Solar and the rest of the cast is nothing less of sincere and outstanding. The eroticism may not go well with American critics, but fans of foreign cinema will love this flick. Francisco Lombardi is by far one of the best Latin American directors, sadly Americans seem to care very little for movies that won't appeal to the masses.