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

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:

Drugs | Medellin Colombia | Murder | Love | Christian

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
Wilson Lopez	...	Taxi Driver Sabaneta 2
Alexander Molina	...	Alexis's Brother
Aníbal Moncada	...	Don Anibal
Jaime Osorio Gómez	...	Forensic Pathologist (as Jaime Osorio)
Carlos Ordóñez	...	Old gay man
Teyler Pérez	...	4x4 Youth
Edwin Porras	...	Bad Guy #1
Gustavo Restrepo	...	La Plaga (The Pest)
John Mario Restrepo	...	Bad Guy #2
Juan Tejada	...	Alexis's Brother
Carlos A. Danita	...	Parcero (Partner)
Nicolas Franco	...	Hired Assassin
Héctor Galan	...	Tango Singer
Rubí Henao	...	Beggar
John Jaramillo	...	Child Beggar
Juan Fdo. León	...	Hired Assassin
Carlos Zapata	...	Motel Receptionist
Serafín Zapata	...	Clown
Martha Libia Zuluaga	...	Dead Punk Witness
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Barbet Schroeder	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Barbet Schroeder

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Fernando Vallejo		novel "La virgen de los sicarios"
Fernando Vallejo		screenplay

Produced by
Margaret Ménégoz	....	producer
Jaime Osorio Gómez	....	co-producer (as Jaime Osorio)
Barbet Schroeder	....	producer

Original Music by
Jorge Arriagada

Cinematography by
Rodrigo Lalinde

Film Editing by
Elsa Vásquez

Casting by
Margarita Flórez
Marlin Franco
Ana Isabel Velásquez

Production Design by
Mónica Marulanda

Set Decoration by
Mónica Marulanda

Costume Design by
Mónica Marulanda

Makeup Department
Mónica Arcila	....	assistant makeup artist
Flore Marina Sandoval	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Federico Durán	....	production manager
Adriana González	....	assistant production manager
Peter McEvoy	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jaime Escallón	....	fourth assistant director
Hervé Ruet	....	assistant director
Jorge Valencia	....	assistant director
Freddy Vélez	....	assistant director

Art Department
Jesús Orlando Peña	....	props

Sound Department
Edwin Angulo	....	sound assistant
Fanchon Brulé	....	dialogue editor
Jean Goudier	....	sound editor
Dominique Hennequin	....	sound mixer
Jean-Paul Hurier	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jean-Pierre Lelong	....	sound effects editor
Mario Melchiorri	....	sound effects editor (as Mario Melchiori)
César Salazar	....	sound
Jean-Alexandre Villemer	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Miguel Ángel Guzmán	....	special effects
Libar Neira	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Thomas Duval	....	visual effects supervisor
Xavier Fourmond	....	digital compositor
Olivier Poujaud	....	digital compositor
Antoine Simkine	....	visual effects executive producer: Duboi

Stunts
Juan Carlos García	....	stunts
Germán González	....	stunts
Ernesto Jiménez	....	stunts
Frank Marín	....	stunts
Mauricio Puentes	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Óscar Bernal	....	camera operator
Olmedo Cardozo	....	assistant camera
Eduardo Carvajal	....	still photographer
Elkin Díaz	....	assistant camera
Frank Alejandro Franco	....	electrician
Armando García	....	gaffer
Sergio Gazzera	....	Steadicam operator
Miguel Ángel López	....	assistant camera
Edi Sanchez	....	electrician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
María Inés Abad	....	costumer
Mercedes Calcedo	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Carlos Bernal	....	assistant editor
Erick Morris	....	assistant editor
Mélanie Mourey	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Olivia Saenz	....	music supervisor

Other crew
José Vicente Coronado	....	production administrator
Nathalie Nghet	....	production administrator
Lina Rengifo	....	production assistant
Luz Marina Restrepo	....	production assistant
Jairo Valencia	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Canal+
• Les Films du Losange
• Proyecto Tucan
• Tornasol Films
• Vértigo Films

Distributors

• BIM Distribuzione (Italy)
• Les Films du Losange
• Momentum Pictures (2000) (UK) (all media)
• Odeon (Greece)
• Paramount Classics (2001) (USA) (subtitled)
• Primer Plano Film Group (Argentina)
• Vértigo Films (Spain)

Other Companies

• Fletcher Chicago  camera equipment provided by
• Golpe de Gracia  stunt and fight coordination

Also Known As:

"La virgen de los sicarios" - Spain (original 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:"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.

Soundtrack:

La Cuchara

Black magic realism

Occasionally venturing into dreamlike surrealism, the movie mostly hits you with a heavy dose of cinema verite. The movie is about the city of Medellin in the same way that Midnight Cowboy is about New York. The characters aren't dealing with the problem of staying human in a huge metropolis, but staying human in the midst of instability that verges on anarchy.

The effects of fifty years of civil war aggravated by narcotrafficking and the associated crime are shown in two ways, which are the central themes of the film: the shift from the old and traditional to the modern, and the loss of value that human life has suffered. The banality of the several killings in the movie drives home the second, and the explorations that Fernando and his two boyfriends (sequential, not simultaneous) take through the city show the first.

The movie is violent like the Godfather is violent: the killings are not gratuitous, they are there to make a point. As a document of life in an industrial Andean city which just happens to be the second city of the country poised to become the next Vietnam, or better said, the next El Salvador, La virgen de los sicarios is excellent. It is sophisticated in its writing and its photography. The characters are human and complex. It ought to be in far wider release than just one screen in the whole L.A. area - which happens to be on the West Side, where Spanish-speaking people typically don't live.