La virgen de los sicarios (2000)

Director:

Barbet Schroeder

Writers:

Fernando Vallejo (novel)
Fernando Vallejo (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 September 2000 (Italy)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Plot:

The tempestuous love story between Fernando, an older man who has recently returned to his crime-ridden drug capitol hometown of Medellin...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Medellin Colombia | Drugs | Love | Violence

Awards:

3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

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

Also Known As:

La vierge des tueurs (France)
La virgen de los sicarios (Colombia)
Our Lady of the Assassins (International: English title)

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

Spain | France | Colombia

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA (cable rating) | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | France:-12 | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia

Company:

Canal+

Quotes:

Fernando: Everyone's rotten. The world is run by crooks. Look at our despicable President: "A decision that will benefit all Colombians!" Ha.
Alexis: If you want, I'll shoot him. I mean it.
Fernando: That's just a waste of bullets.

Soundtrack:

El Campeon

A realistic and subversive film

I saw the film at the Jerusalem Film Festival. It was a rather late screening, but the viewers were glued to their seats. It's a very gripping movie and extremely subversive in themes, language and visuals. It's very anti current-day Colombia, and no wonder the production didn't go very smoothly. Still I admire the support the film got from `official' institutions in Medellion. It's subversive in themes, because we basically have a gay couple, an older man (about 40-50) who indulges in having sex with minor boys (who do this willingly, and yet, it's rather shocking to the average viewer) in return for financial support, or rather indulging the boys in whatever they want to do. The couple goes around the city and is critical of every facet of the city – and rightly so – yet the tone is overtly cynical and `evil'. The lead boy, Alexis, goes around and kills whomever is threatening him and his sugar-daddy – I think he executed 4 people once a confrontation was about to happen, and 4 more were other kids who were after him. S this shooting spree is depicted in a somewhat accepting manner, as if this is the way to do these things in Colombia. They ridicule almost every aspect of life – church, police, government, the drug lords, poor and beggars, the bourgeoisie, other gays, and even themselves. In that respect, it's a very Pasolini movie, although the realism here is a real one and not made for the sake of a socialist agenda. The writer and his two boy-lovers are very lost, although they always know where they are, and the ending is pretty bad, as expected. The film shows no hope for the Colombian people, as they are stuck in a country ran by corrupt officials, gangs and drug lords. The writer has great lines, one of my favorite was about him hating people who whistle, because they shouldn't try and imitate the art that was given to the birds… A good movie, with a 7/10 as far as I can say. Acting-wise – since I don't speak Spanish, it was credible to my ears, though the boys did seem to quote their lines mechanically at times.