As he did in SALVATORE GIULIANO, director Francesco Rosi reconstructs the events which combined to bring about a murder in this Italian-French coproduction based on the novel by Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Set in a provincial Colombian river town, the story begins in the present as Volonte (THE DEATH OF MARIO RICCI, CHRIST STOPPED AT EBOLI), a doctor in his fifties, returns to his home after nearly 20 years to investigate a murder that occurred just before he left. In flashback, Everett (DANCE WITH
A STRANGER, ANOTHER COUNTRY), the son of a wealthy general, visits the town in search of a bride and falls in love with the beautiful Muti. They wed, but soon after the ceremony, Everett discovers that Muti is not a virgin and returns his bride to her shamed family. Muti's father beats her until
she names the man who deflowered her, Delon, a brazen young womanizer, who may or may not have actually compromised Muti. Her twin brothers, Carlos and Rogerio Miranda, are then honor-bound to make Delon pay for his indiscretion.
The film's action is enriched by themes of omnipresent Catholicism, the emptiness of macho stances, and the strength of familial ties. The moody photography increases the languorous mystical aura of the film. leave a comment
