cuando me toque a mí

[rone]

Today, as part of Cinequest, Kim and i went to see Cuando Me Toque a Mí, mainly because it was filmed in Quito.  I started feeling a certain nostalgia as i saw the familiar streets, landscapes, and people.  The story itself is grim, which is probably not much of a surprise given that it's mostly set in a morgue.  But neither of those got me down as much as the dialogue did, when it outlined the double-faced tragedy, inherent to Ecuadorian culture, of despair and apathy.

To me, Ecuador is a childhood friend who was instrumental in forming who i am, but whom i outgrew while it remained locked in its doomed immaturity; i love it dearly, miss the good times, and enjoy the memories, but every time i hear from it now, i almost always find the news mortifying.  I've often said that it's a beautiful country — and it is — but i couldn't imagine living there, despite missing my parents and the rest of my family quite a bit, because i couldn't deal with the way of life there.  It's not just the corruption, although that's definitely a big deal; it's more the general sense that people just don't care about doing things the right way, or for the right reasons.  I doubt there's anything unique about Ecuador in this sense, but it feels to me that they've distilled it and then incorporated into the societal DNA.  And it's the enormity of this endemic flaw that permeates the story of this movie, which made watching it progressively more painful to me as it played.

The movie itself is very good; cinematography, writing, directing, acting.  The pacing is a bit languid, and there are a good amount of scenes where there is no dialogue and none is needed.  It'll be playing at the Camera 12 next Saturday at 13:30; if you feel up to a movie that's a bit of a downer, and want to see more of my adopted country, you should definitely check it out.

Comments

I love Ecuador

[(Anonymous)]

As a gringo expat living in Cuenca, I fully understand your frustration with the Ecuadorian culture. But believe me, after having traveled widely throughout Latin America, this is not an Ecuadorian exclusive by any means. Everything south of the US border is essentially in the same frame of mind.

If anything, Ecuadorians are actually more industrious and efficient than most. My two cents!

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I hope you're right and it's just that the flaws in our loved ones are somehow magnified in our eyes.

[h-postmortemus.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, no offense but I think I'll skip that movie. I don't need more reminders of abject poverty and corruption. I can get that from my daily local news, :(

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Heh, no worries. Poverty doesn't even figure into the movie, for what it's worth.

[h-postmortemus.livejournal.com]

If there's not lots of explosions, mutant monsters, robots or massive amounts of nudity, I ususally find it boring.

Sad, isn't it?

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I normally tend to stick to funny stuff. Not so much into the gooey-blooey or lovey-dovey. But it's good to try something different sometimes.