Ardor

Set in the Argentinean rain forest this is part western and part eco tale. It stars one of my favourite actors Gael García Bernal, as Kai, and he also co produced it. We have a poor subsistence farming family who are targeted by nasty thugs working for a land grab company – we are never sure what their ultimate aim is.

Kai ends up going to rescue the abducted daughter of one of the farmers but in so doing puts himself on a collision course with the evil ones.

Now this has a few clichés in it and has borrowed heavily from other films in the western genre. The action is limited, but when it happens it is well done. The cinematography is lovely – but hard to go wrong when you have the bounty of a rain forest at your feet– probably. The performances are all above average too but where it falls down is the thin story line. It is good versus bad with next to no ambiguity at all and almost no back story – this makes it hard to put everything into context.

That said I still enjoyed the watch – but would not want to see again, so a rental option here methinks. Original title is 'El Ardor' and filmed in Spanish with good to average sub titles and a run time of 96m minutes; this is one for those that like the sides nice and firmly drawn and appreciate some good old fashioned retribution.

This movie is a mess! It takes from so many past films and creates a film which is clinch ridden. The main character is a mixture of Tom Sawyer (Look Ma, no shoes!), Tarzan (he speaks to tigers), Rambo (jungle warfare expert who uses nature to defeat well-armed opponents) and Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (starring and squinting). The bad guys are stereotypes of characters right out of Deliverence, The Road, and Rolling Thunder. The story plot is so stupid that it is really hard to believe; a gang of killers who are working for an unnamed boss, attempt to steal land composing of two wooden shacks in the dense jungle with no one around for miles. The hero keeps removing his shirt,yet wears a hippie style leather necklace and has a strange looking tattoo on his back which looks like an ocean wave. Also, ninety percent of the dialogue consists if heavy breathing and moaning. All the characters are flat and stiff. There is no chemistry what so ever between any of them. They just like and stare, and wear filthy dirty clothes and never shower. This movie is a real stinker. I only gave it a four because the photography is beautiful and I liked the stupid showdown at the end.

Kai, a mysterious man, emerges from the Amazon rain forest near a remote tobacco farm whose owner is being threatened by armed men working for those who wish to take the land for soya farming. Shortly afterwards three of these men turn up and kill the farmer and take his daughter, Vania, with then. Kai follows them back into the jungle and manages to rescue Vania... they know the men won't stop though and prepare to face them back at the farm.

I had little idea of what to expect with this film; I didn't even know what genre it was... it is closest to being a western with its theme of people being threatened in order that other more powerful people might take their land. There are also ecological themes. The story is simple with a fairly minimal amount of dialogue. It looks great even if it is a bit slow to get going. Once the action starts it is exciting and leads to a finale that is both thrilling and atmospheric as heroes and villains face each other in a smoke covered farm. The cast are solid; notably Gael Garcia Bernal and Alice Braga as Kai and Vania; the villains might be a bit one dimensional but that isn't much of a problem. The jungle setting looks great, as one would expect. Overall I'd say this might not be a great film but it is decent and worth watching if you like westerns and are looking for something rather different.

These comments are based on watching the film in Spanish with English subtitles.

The movie didn't work for me. It felt too artificial... forced. Almost like I could tell 'this is a movie' constantly. And it is not supposed to be like that, it has a kind of magical aura you are supposed to feel, and sometimes it works, mainly with sounds and the jungle images. But it doesn't work on how they managed ellipsis... for time to pass by they show you a dark sky with a full moon. Also it didn't work in acting direction, I think. The actors are good, but the tone is completely flat. It may have been a good idea, but it becomes somehow artificial while the movie advances. And the idea of man becoming one with nature felt also forced. The 'tiger'analogy with the main character. It has a great message and I think it was a strong bet. I'm glad they tried. Maybe Herzog's movies would have been a good starting point to think the mise en scene for this subject.

Kai (Gael García Bernal) is a mysterious shaman who emerges from the Rio Paraná to help a poor farmer and his daughter (Alice Braga), who are threatened by a band of cold-blooded mercenaries hired to force them to sell their land... I need to review it at a more opportune time to reassess it...

It looked great, but it was just good, it doesn't involve you as I imagined, it lacks a charisma, something more to feel really attracted to the events... indigenous population and small producers... Total darkness doesn't help much either... I need to review it at a more opportune time to reassess it...