Punto y raya

I cannot however agree that this was a poorly made film. Be prepared for a look at how sad it is when governments use their people to fight wars that feel so pointless. I'm no pacifist, but border disputes should be settled with the assistance of brother countries in the region in question. A Latin-American council should be formed to make cross border fighting a shameful sad memory of what we were before we learned better. It hurts me to the soul to think that even one minute of what this film supposes happens in the border between two brother countries is true. I think the film technique was very effective. The effect is that of memories not so much live action. Like many people my memories and dreams are not vividly colored. How strange it seems to me that people live in areas where the agony of unrest is simply the backdrop to daily activities. There's so much left to do in this world and so few people who are willing to stop the greed long enough to help.

PUNTO Y RAYA ('A Dot and a Line') is a touching little film from Venezuela, a movie with low budget and high aspirations that manages to explore friendship and bonding between two warring factions in a most sensitive way. Director Elia Schneider and writer Henry Herrera deserve their 2005 Oscar consideration for Best Foreign Film, Venezuela and we can hope this talented team partners for other outings. Shot with a digital camera that bleeds the color to almost black and white, the production values may at first put off the audiences used to either classy black and white movies or richly colored ones, but this slight flaw should not deter the enthusiastic craftsmanship on the part of everyone involved in making this terrific little film.

The film opens and closes with battle scenes, setting the tension that exists along the river that divides Venezuela from Colombia, two countries who not only have the innate political differences but also are involved in the internationally significant war on drugs - primarily cocaine and its many derivatives. Cheito (Roque Valero) is a young small time but smart and wily drug dealer from Caracas who is captured by the police and 'sentenced' to the Venezuelan army to patrol the border of Colombia. He has a beautiful sister Yosmar (Daniela Alvarado) whom he protects like a watchdog. Simultaneously a serious, naive, conservative young Colombian named Pedro (the hunky and very fine Edgar Ramirez), 'saving himself' for his beloved girlfriend Lutecia (Daniela Bascope), volunteers for the Colombian army to combat drugs and fight the guerrillas responsible for the drug trafficking along the border.

Through a continuing series of circumstances Cheito and Pedro are thrown together and it is Cheito's cunning and 'smarts' that keep the two men surviving - though at most time they are personally at odds. Their involvement in the drug cartels they engage and the varying sides of the two armies they dodge result in some hilarious comic bits. In their quieter moments the illiterate Pedro asks Cheito to read his letters from his Lutecia and write return correspondence - a chance for Cheito to voice his warped libidinous nature unknown to the naive Pedro. The two young men bond, survive dangerous situations, and eventually find some quirky changes in their plans for the future. The ending of the film is both sad and tender: by the time the story is over we have taken the two misfit buddies into our hearts.

Both Roque Valero and Edgar Ramirez are strong actors and manage to make credible this complex relationship that vacillates between enemy and comrade. They create a chemistry on screen that makes the movie work very well indeed. Not only is the story an entertaining one, it also gives an insight to the magnitude of the drug problems that cruelly determine lifestyles in South America. While it never preaches, it delivers strong messages for outsiders to consider. And in the end it is a very fine little film that deserves audience wide attention. Grady Harp

I'm Venezuelan, Usually I never liked Venezuelan movies, to exception of "Huelepega", I don't know, it never gets my attention, maybe on TV, but never in the cinema, it's like that. But when I seen it on DVD, ooh, is just Terrific!, it was a real good movie about our boundary-war situation with Colombia for many years, and it is represented by a "malandro" (like a thief) who was sent to the frontier to lend military service. You Know the rest. And if you don't, go to see it! It is very entertaining, if you like these movies about drugs, sex, holdups, fights, infidelity, etc. All made in my country, Venezuela, you won't be sorry

PD: Dora Mazzone has nice boobs, don't you think so?

Elia Schneider, the talented Venezuelan film director, surprised our expectations with "Punto y Raya", one of the highlights of the recent Latinbeat 2005 at the Walter Reade theater in New York. Not being prepared for what to expect, this movie proved to be a winner. The public, at its presentation the other day, seemed to enjoyed it a lot.

"Punto y Raya" is a film that presents us all the factions in a conflict that one hears nothing about in the press, and it has to do with the involvement of the Venezuelan and Colombian armies in their fight to control the drug trafficking between the two countries plus the leftist guerrillas and the paramilitary forces that are all fighting one another, especially in Colombia.

The film focuses on two soldiers, one, the disarming Cheito, a small time drug dealer in Caracas, who is caught selling and as a punishment is made to enroll the army and sent to the border with Colombia as part as the forces patrolling the area. Pedro, a Colombian recruit, who has joined the army to combat the drug problem, is an earnest man. Pedro believes in the system and is willing to give his best in order to see his country free of drugs.

Fate intervenes and both Cheito and Pedro form a bond, as they are caught by the different factions. Cheito is a chameleon, he can change colors and be convincing to whoever happens to be questioning him. Pedro, on the other hand, is an uneducated man whose honesty and integrity are in sharp contrast with the slick Cheito.

The film is delightful to watch because of the magnificent display of acting by Roque Valero, a great new talent to Latin American films and Edgar Ramirez, who is becoming known also to the American movie fans. Both actors deserve success in whatever they decide to do next because they prove in "Punto y Raya" they certainly can act and are totally convincing.

Congratulations of Elia Schneider for giving us a film that will stay with the viewer for a long time to come.

Punto y Raya (Step Forward) went definitively beyond my expectations. It's a very original story, which counts with outstanding performances and has an implicit message about how important friendship and loyalty are during difficult times. Taking place during a (not that far from reality) situation of real tension in the Venezuelan-Colombian border, Punto y Raya makes viewers go into the story, which develops as a drama, with many touches of that typical Latin American kind of humor. The several awards that it's won in different international festivals are very well deserved, and this is a movie which is really worth watching, because it's one of the good productions with the "made in Latin America" stamp.