O Cônsul Honorário

It was difficult to watch this film because of the miscasting of Richard Gere who seems at last partially anesthesthetized through the entire movie. There is not one bit of passion in his manner or his speech and, whenever he is on the screen, there is a hole through which all tension drains. Bob Hoskins is not a convincing Latin at all, neither in accent nor in manner. Better casting in these two parts would have improved this film immeasurably.

An interesting, semi-error shows many of the main characters sweating through their shirts. In tropic and sub-tropic regions, locals have heat adapted well enough so that they sweat almost unnoticeably in normal conditions and thus can appear crisp and unruffled in temperatures where those of us from more temperate climates sweat like water buffalo.

Competent adaptation of a typical Graham Greene story, a tale of dilemma, forgiveness and redemption in a quasi-fascist South America. Direction and acting are both ordinary, though Michael Caine and Richard Gere are at least well cast; Bob Hoskins (an Argentinian policeman!) less so. Always interesting, but strangely subdued: Greene packs a greater moral punch on the page.

Competent adaptation of a typical Graham Greene story, a tale of moral dilemma, forgiveness and redemption in a quasi-fascist South America. Direction and acting are ordinary, although Michael Caine and Richard Gere are at least well cast; Bob Hoskins (an Argentinian policeman!) less so. Not badly done, but slightly detached; Greene packs a bigger punch on the page.

With both Paraguay and Argentina under junta governments, doctor "Eduardo" (Richard Gere) returns to his homeland where he quickly befriends the eponymous gent "Fortnum" (Michael Caine) before making even closer friends with his somewhat open-minded wife "Clara" (Elpidia Carrillo). Ostensibly an upstanding member of the community it soon becomes clear that this physician is conflicted, and that comes to an head when his dipso friend is charged with driving the US Ambassador to visit a waterfall. The rebels get wind of this trip and plan to kidnap the visiting diplomat, but they get the wrong man and aren't impressed with the boozed-up light-weight that find themselves stuck with. Still, they can still use him as leverage to have some of their colleagues released from jail, or can they? Does anyone really care about this man who's frankly become a bit of a nuisance, a liability even? The only chance poor old "Fortnum" might have is if local police chief "Perez" (Bob Hoskins) can find where he is being held before his captors lose patience, or run out of whiskey! Caine is on quite good form here as he takes to the role of the alcoholic convincingly, and though he really only features sparingly his is by far the better effort. Otherwise, there's lots of sex between Gere and Carrillo, but their personas remain largely undercooked by a weak script and a rather limited supporting cast who underplay the freedom-fighting elements of the plot and render them a little better than a sideshow. It's really only a vehicle for Gere, this film, and an unremarkable one at that.

In Argentina, Dr. Eduardo Plarr (Richard Gere) is a medical doctor with a Paraguayan deceased mother and an English revolutionary father that is imprisoned in Paraguay. He unsuccessfully tries to get news about his father with his acquaintance Colonel Perez (Bob Hoskins). One night, he is summoned to attend the alcoholic British Honorary Consul Charley Fortnum (Michael Caine) in a brothel where he sees a beautiful young prostitute but she goes with another man. When he returns to the Whitehouse, he learns that the prostitute Clara (Elpidia Carrillo) left the place. One day, Charley calls him to examine his wife, and when Eduard turns the light of the room on, he sees that Charley married Clara. Soon he meets her in a store and buys an expensive sunglass to her. Clara goes with him to his apartment and they begin a love affair. When Clara becomes pregnant, Charley believes that the baby is his. Meanwhile Eduardo's childhood friend Leon (Joaquim De Almeida) visits him in his office and tells that his father is alive in Paraguay. Further, he tells that he plans to abduct the American ambassador and exchange him per political prisoners in Paraguay including his father. However he needs inside information about the visit of the ambassador. What will Eduardo do?

"The Honorary Consul" is a dramatic thriller with romance that does not work well. Eduardo is an unethical doctor and amoral man. His relationship with Clara is cold and he betrays Charley with a great cynicism. The film does not work well and the conclusion is predictable. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Cônsul Honorário" ("The Honorary Consul")