El Amparo

EL AMPARO tells the true story of two survivors of an army attack in 1988 Venezuela. The men's fishing party was mistaken for a camp of rebel guerrillas and fired upon; two men escape back to their village and are put in jail, at first on suspicion of being rebels but later to protect them against being kidnapped or murdered. The army naturally doesn't want to admit it made a mistake, so the men are placed under intense pressure to 'confess' to being rebels with vague promises of a quiet amnesty and reward at a later date. Having no faith that the state will hold up its end of the bargain (and not wanting to admit to a crime they didn't commit), the men resist.

This is the case of a film where the content is more important than the style or technical achievement. It's an important story and well worth bringing to the screen. The production and direction are frankly pretty flat and uninteresting, but the performances are quite natural and it was cool to watch the women of the village take the lead and organize to protect the two men (and the memory of their dead husbands / sons / brothers). Solid, worthwhile watch.

I had the opportunity to appreciate this work at the Festival del Cine Venezolano 2017 in Mérida. In spite of the great technical flaws that the event had, which could be due to the economic problems of Venezuela or lack of organization (maybe a bit of both), I found one of the most tense films that has been seen so far. I was born in 1998 and did not know about the history of the El Amparo massacre until I observed the work. When I left the cinema I went and talked with my father who was 12 years old at that time and I was surprised by the facts. The incredible fidelity that was used in the film is worthy of admiration, the way my father told me the story when he saw it on television in 1988 was the same as I felt when he first met her when he was in the movie theater 30 years after the events.

Like my father, I had an intrigue to know the truth, but that the same film does not let discover. How did two men survive? How did they feel? How much did they swim to be safe? . My father asked me if that was clarified in the film and I said no. So he will continue with the mystery for the rest of his life.

The film says more in the moments where we simply do not see or know anything, working the tension and the suspense in an excellent way. The public in the room was shocked to see the work and even felt empathy for its protagonists, who are being accused and condemned by the government of Venezuela (of that time) for some acts that they did not perform. Much coincidence that at the time of the premiere, Venezuela was going through one of its biggest crises during the protests of more than 3 months where the government murdered hundreds of young people and went unpunished, as in the work.

The saddest thing of all is that maybe I will not see her again, given the big problems with Venezuelan cinema that are not given a fair time to national films in movie theaters, in addition to the constant censorship by the government. I wish you a long life in foreign cinemas and I hope someday this work deserves the honors it deserves in our nation.