Mi mejor enemigo

Mi Mejor Enemigo (2005)

Set way in the south of Chile (which goes very far south) about a confrontation between Argentina and Chile (talk about a long border to worry about), this group of Chilean soldiers stumbles and bumbles along in the open barren landscape, discovering themselves. One blurb calls it a comedy, which it isn't really, not for American sensibilities, but it is often very funny, and almost always easy going. But it isn't a "war movie" either. There's almost no "action" in war terms. In fact, the real action is the figures against the grassy openness of the land, the pampas, helping prove at least once that war is often silly at best. Especially over a couple of islands.

I'm not really sure most viewers will get fully into this movie, which is too bad. It's slow, or subtle, or both. The slow part is necessary, though the unspectacular filming style and the decision to extend many short scenes longer than might be necessary make it a little sleepy. The subtle part is notable, and there are some convincing, low key performances. And no heroes, not in the usual sense. And there are a lot of reasonable attempts to avoid starting a real war, including some funny comparable scenes from the Argentine side, and some developments you'll have to wait and see. Including a perro (a dog) that makes trips back and forth between the two sides. Not that any of them, including the dog, has any idea where the border actually is.

It's charming, and has a charming innocence to it, which makes it worth something right there. And it is filled with such soft-spoken humor it slowly sucks you in. Even the charged ending is filled with tenderness, and a humility which makes me wish these were my friends. If there is something to carry forward here, it is the humanity steeped into every scene. We don't quite get to know the individuals or their characters deeply, but we come to empathize with them anyway.

A nice surprise, if you can remove distractions and get yourself absorbed.

Mi mejor enemigo is not a great war film.It just tell the story of three Chilean young men who join the army and went to the front.Then their patrol gets lost, they meet an Argentinian Patrol who seems also lost, and both Chilean Argentine soldiers help each other, are speaking about their life, their dreams and of course they don't understand why there are so much tensions between both countries. Mi mejor enemigo is is a good film about friendship and understanding and about the nonsense of wars.

In the 70's, right in the boundaries between Chile and Argentina, war is about to erupt. A grudge between these two countries for a couple of islands (that today belong to Chile) is growing up, and a fight between the countries seems unavoidable. A group of soldiers is sent to the pampas, in the limits of the frontier, to watch for any hostile activities.

It is then when we're introduced to the members of that group. Each one has his own beliefs, and soon we learn that almost none of them has seen combat in their entire life - they're just conscripts. Innocence all over their faces, suddenly they got stuck in the middle of nowhere facing the enemy. That's when the movie really starts.

Although character development is somewhat scarce in some of the cast, Nicolás Saavedra,Felipe Braun and Miguel Dedovich gave an outstanding performance, giving you the feel of common-like persons in a situation where one has to choose between loyalty to your country or your beliefs. It's not a tale of war, but a story representing the feelings of those people thrown in a conflict they barely are aware of. Despite the criticism made to warfare, Alex Bowen, the director, was able to find the cooperation of the Army Forces in Chile, a major achievement considering the history of that nation. Shown at the Montreal Festival in September 25th, Bowen showed surprise at the reaction of the public at some scenes, pointing that the humor scenes where not mean to be that funny, he thought it will be too obscure for the audience to catch them.

Either way, the film still has some flaws. Some of the characters remain too simplistic to even being able to keep in touch with them. Although there's no "happy ending" entirely, people used to war movies like "Saving Private Ryan", "Platoon" and else will find this one a little bloodless and with so little action. Pherhaps some will miss the true intent of showing a more human story, loosely based on real facts, and a subtle criticism to what war is, after all.

"Mi Mejor Enemigo" stands as a enjoyable-afternoon-movie for those who want to watch an intelligent, worth-watching film.

I liked this movie, because it shows the human behavior in a difficult situation (almost a war) between two nations that has many things in common. I recommend it to anyone, specially to Argentine and Chilean people. If you are older than 35 years you may remember the situation, if you aren't: there were a problem between Argentina and Chile because of some islands at the south of the continent, near Tierra del Fuiego. The two countries started to reinforce their army, and there was almost a war because of "The Beagle Channel". This is the story of two squads, one Chilean and the other one Argentinean, and what happened between them when they were at the south waiting for the war to begin.