El Bonaerense (2002)

7 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Low Key

FrankIV from , 15th December, 2004

An interesting, low-key account of the progress of a none-too-bright man through the police force, aided by some nepotism and a remarkably compliant disposition. The style of the film distances us by not showing us certain events, only the aftermath, and the effect is to render us dispassionate and clinical in our assessment of the character and situation.

Quite engrossing.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Heartbreaking film

Magnus Stanke from London, 10th February, 2005

Pablo Trapero is one of Argentinas most important new voices, both as director and producer. His films are not as easily accessible as say 'Nine Queens' but if you know at bit about the country they cut where it hurts. El Bonearense is a story about corruption, and as that it's powerful stuff: it's just as specific to the cultural context as it is universal. Brooding, intense, fascinating

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Interesting

A Customer from Redhill, 6th March, 2010

almost documentary style drama of the police in Buenos Aires. Seems to be set in the past but I fear it's in the present! Neither dictatorship nor democracy have been able to change the corruption there.

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More of a "guys film"

FromTheSofa from from London, 3rd July, 2008

I found this film okay but to be honest a little on the boring side - maybe it's the kind of film men would enjoy more than women? Not that it's full of action, but just because it centres on a very male-dominated world and, as a woman, I found the central character quite hard to relate to.

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A strange and unusual policier

Savage from from London, England, 25th December, 2007

The sort of film which only really hits you some time after you've finished watching it, 'El Bonaerense' (named after the Buenos Aires police headquarters where some of the picture takes place) barely has anything resembling a plot. Which isn't to say that nothing happens: rather, a young-ish locksmith from the countryside gets into trouble with the law, and is let off (due to some family connections) on the condition that he go to the capital and join the police force. There he struggles at first, but then finds potential redemption via a romance with one of his instructors, and potential damnation through being taken under the wing of a corrupt officer. But Trapero structures and films it all in such affectless fashion and gets such a marvellously blank performance from his leading man (Jorge Roman), that it's frequently difficult to tell not just what is going on, but what is even being intended. Stick with it, though, because it's a fascinating dissection of a particular life, and, just perhaps, a reflection on exactly what led Argentina into its economic meltdown around the turn of the century.

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