La ville et les chiens

"La Ciudad Y Los Perros" (translated "The City and the Dogs") is one of those cheap Peruvian productions that ends up looking more like a teen exploit film than anything else. A group of teenage boys are at a shady military establishment where some youngsters rule while others are treated as second-rate citizens (that is putting it mildly). When a death occurs, layers and layers of wrong-doing are uncovered and it appears that many of the officers are just as heartless and cold as some of their students. A film that could have sent a real message is damaged by over-acting, poor cinematography, a near invisible musical score and low production values that make the whole thing go into a tail-spin. Honored by many groups in the mid-1980s, but nothing special in the end---not even for the Peruvian cinema. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

The film may have a low budget, a non-existent soundtrack and mediocre acting. Yet the story is so powerful -the movie is loyal to Vargas Llosa's classic novel-, so close to the truth and so well told, it is capable to kick you in the groin.

One of the best Peruvian movies that I have ever watch, and pretty close to the book too. In this movie you can watch one of Peru's best actors in the last 30 years, Gustavo Bueno, who was the doctor in Lima in the Motorcycle Diaries. His motto to the cadets, "what are you laughing at? do you want a naked picture of me? is a classic. You can also see a lot of the racial, ethnic and class issues affecting Peru in those years, the large Indian immigration to Lima, and other cultural characteristics of the region and the country. Leoncio Prado is a real school in Peru. To a ceertain extent, things have not change much in Peru since then, so it is a ninteresting interpretation of the country's soul.

It´s the best movie directed by Francisco Lombardi . The relation of an adolescent called "The Poet" with a group of bad and fool teenagers that generally studying in a military school converts him like a hero when finally fights against the "gang " leader called Jaguar , discovering that he murdered his best friend called "The Slave" a passive and timid boy . This movie shows the most close realism of a peruvian and latin-american problem.

This accurate portrayal of the peruvian military school Leoncio Prado, this shows the diverse problems that students had to go thru while learning the facts of life. Extreme discipline, a fair amount of corruption, without overdoing violence or misery that's common in other flicks. By the way, not everyone who speaks spanish is a Mexican, and trying to say that this is another "cheap Mexican movie" is in extremely bad taste.

This institution exists, and my father was a student here, along with a lot of people I know. 'Unfortunately' I missed the opportunity to study here by barely obtaining decent grades at my regular school :D