Our Lady of the Assassins (2000)
"La virgen de los sicarios" (original title)

The tempestuous love story between Fernando, an older man who has recently returned to his crime-ridden drug capitol hometown of Medellin, Colombia and the gun-happy 16-year-old assassin ... See full summary »

Director:

Barbet Schroeder

Writers:

Fernando Vallejo (novel), Fernando Vallejo (screenplay)

Stars:

Germán Jaramillo, Anderson Ballesteros, Juan David Restrepo

3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Germán Jaramillo	...	Fernando
Anderson Ballesteros	...	Alexis
Juan David Restrepo	...	Wilmar
Manuel Busquets	...	Alfonso
Wilmar Agudelo	...	Child Sniffing Glue
Juan Carlos Álvarez	...	4x4 Thief
Jairo Alzate	...	Taxi Driver Santa Domingo
Zulma Arango	...	Waitress
José Luis Bedoya	...	Taxi Sabaneta 1
Cenobia Cano	...	Alexis's Mother
Eduardo Carvajal	...	Taxi Driver Clinic
Olga Lucía Collazos	...	Pregnant Woman
Jorge A. Correa	...	Dead Man
Phanor Delgado	...	Taxi Driver with Machete
Albeiro Lopera	...	Punk

Storyline

The tempestuous love story between Fernando, an older man who has recently returned to his crime-ridden drug capitol hometown of Medellin, Colombia and the gun-happy 16-year-old assassin Alexis, who murders all too easily. When Alexis himself is fatally gunned down, grief-stricken Fernando hunts for his young lover's killer in the Medellin slums, but instead encounters Wilmar, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Alexis.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | medellin colombia | drugs | love | viper's nest | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, language, sexuality and drug content

Details

Country:

Spain France Colombia

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

20 September 2000 (France)

Also Known As:

Our Lady of the Assassins

Filming Locations:

Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$56,069 (USA) (7 September 2001)

Gross:

$525,029 (USA) (19 April 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+, Les Films du Losange, Proyecto Tucan

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Fernando: "Thou shalt not kill." Why? Taking someone's life is doing them a favor. A huge favor. Let them live. It's what they deserve.

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Soundtracks

"El Cantor de Fonseca"
Written by Carlos Huertas
Performed by Luis Enrique Martinez

User Reviews

should be forced on all news spokesmen with Colombian corpses in the background

Prepared as we are for the image of Columbia that CNN shoves down our throats- full of Narcos, Paracos and desperate politicians-, there is no way to predict the surreal way of life the characters in this movie pass through. This is a film that penetrates into a very real Medellin, where nothing is certain and everything is so vulnerable that human life seems to exist only the instant in which it takes place. Medellin is like Fernando- the main character-, it is like his way of walking through a church in the feverishly catholic ambient of Latin America with his sixteen year old murderer lover- who is actually more like an angel fallen from grace. Alexis- the young shooter- is the result of a less than miserable way of life, where poverty and violence rape viciously at each other, almost to a point of neutralization, what seems perverse is in the end the most innocent. This film is strong and profound, it should be forced on all news spokesmen with Colombian corpses in the background: `Lady this is Medellin, not Switzerland'.