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Our Lady of the Assassins More at IMDbPro »La virgen de los sicarios (original title)

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77 reviews in total

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21 out of 22 people found the following review useful:
Madonna of the killers, 8 March 2006

Author: jotix100 from New York

Medellin is a dangerous city in more ways than one is lead to believe. At the time of the action, Pablo Escobar's empire has been dismantled and his loyal soldiers are scattered all around the city engaging in a game of death, revenge and petty vendettas. There is no reverence for life in a place that has seen violence on a daily basis and where children have access to guns for protection in order to survive in that environment.

Barbet Schroeder, the German director, expands on Fernando Vallejo's novel, which the author adapted for the screen, resulting in a highly violent and bloody film that is disturbing, as well as true.

Fernando, the older gay man who comes back to his native city of Medellin, quickly finds a boy to satisfy his needs. Alexis, the young man, is seen at first at the all-male brothel where he is offered by the pimp to Fernando. Alexis turns out to be something the older man didn't expect. This is a boy that is savvy in the ways of how to survive in the city, who clearly takes an interest in the older, and richer Fernando.

Alexis is a marked man and it's only a matter of time; his days are numbered because there are other youths behind him that will do whatever in their power to eliminate him. Fernando can't believe what his city has become, but he has no desire to go away again. When Alexis is killed, Fernando mourns his death until Wilmar, another young gay man appears in his orbit. Little prepares Fernando to realize who Wilmar is really.

Fernando's comments on the situation in his city, as well as in the Colombian reality, are the basic themes of the film. While one side of him cries for that old place he knew as a child, he welcomes this new metropolis full of danger and people that attracts and repulses him at the same time.

German Jaramillo appears to be the alter ego for the writer, Fernando Vallejo, whose story seems to resemble that of the Fernando in the novel and in the film. Mr. Jaramillo's take on Fernando keeps him away from the confrontations between his young lovers and what he thinks is right. He never passes judgment on what the young people are doing, yet he is instrumental for providing the bullets that Alexis needs to defend himself. The other two young actors, Anderson Ballesteros and Juan Diego Restrepo, play Alexis and Wilmar respectively.

Barbet Schroeder has directed the film with all its realism showing us a society in which all hope seems to have abandoned the citizens of the city.

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23 out of 26 people found the following review useful:
from a respite from dull films, see this, 5 August 2002

Author: jetwimp

A middle-aged Colombian writer, disgusted with life and contemptuous of religion, becomes involved sexually and romantically with teen-aged Medellin boys who kill effortlessly and with little provocation. At first appalled, he eventually grows addicted to the deaths the boys bring about, their magical ability to resolve the annoyances of everyday life, such as noisy neighbors and aggressive cab subway riders. The plot has some really astonishing surprises, and the taut nearly flawless script (in Spanish) is a treasure. The film , obviously the product of a philosophically inclined mind (Schroeder studied philosophy at the Sorbonne), is a thinking filmgoer's feast and works on many different levels. The main character's ambivalence about religion (the film's title, and the fact that the writer keeps finding himself in cathedrals) furnishes much matter for reflection. This film is not for everyone--- it is, even for these times, shocking. Those more comfortable with the blowsy and predictable product issuing from Hollywood committees should probably avoid it. But those who treasure the ability of film to explore provocative and original ideas will love it.

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16 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
Black magic realism, 10 September 2001
Author: Michael N. Escobar (mne2596) from Burbank, CA, USA

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.

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11 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
A realistic and subversive film, 21 July 2001
Author: eroka from London

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.

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10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
The best! Brilliant! Masterpiece!, 3 November 2007

Author: John Styber from Warsaw Poland

This movie takes your heart and soul. This movie freezes your heart and wants you to cry, smile and cry again all at the same time, and above all almost screams at you about the horror of life in Medellin at the time which it presents. This film moved me to the core. Love story which might offend some people is gorgeous and true. An older gay guy falls in love with 18 years old street gay boy who desperately seeks love and security which he did not have all his young life. He can't step away from the habit which became his second nature, killing the guys like himself, young and lonely. In the movie killing becomes almost as understandable as breathing or eating and becomes part of love of the older guy to the beautiful Alexis. To my astonishment, all the killings all of the sudden became acceptable to spectators. I love this movie. I love the story. I love the plot of true feelings of the older guy toward his young lover and vice versa. Human spirit which emanates from this film is mesmerizing and almost blinding and the love is heartbreaking and beautiful.

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8 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Forcing the audience to question the value of life, 8 August 2001

Author: John Frame (jvframe@ozemail.com.au) from Brisbane, Australia

Our Lady Of Assassins showed at the Brisbane International Film Festival. It left me initially distraught and other members of the audience obviously felt the same. After a bit of thought, I realised that it was indeed a powerful and beautifully created way of presenting the desperate nature of life in Medellin. The main character, who was born and raised in the town, remembers how potentially violent it was even 40 years earlier, yet seems to be shocked by how much it has decayed. It is strange that he is also quite complicit in inciting violence, while seeming to be just looking for love.

The film forces the audience to question the day to day value of life and just how much violence we can allow ourselves to tolerate. But in Medellin the solution is certainly not in the hands of just one person.

A great trio of films showing the broad story of the cocaine phenomena would be "Our Lady Of Assassins", Ted Demme's "Blow" and "Traffic".

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10 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
9/10, 10 March 2005

Author: desperateliving from Canada

This is one of those movies that you're wary about, because the criticisms are so obvious. Yet I think this is something close to a minor masterpiece. This is quite rich material -- very literary, in a way -- and the invoking of Catholicism (and, for me, Genet) through the title is apt, for the way it delves into accepted perversions. At first I was wondering what the much-discussed shocking aspect of the film was, thinking perhaps it was the (would-be) sensuousness of this Latin boy-lover (the shared drink is not something you'd get in common fare), but it seems like it's more the violence that people react (or object) to. While it didn't upset me, I think the violence is interesting in two ways: one, the digital video makes the dispassionate killings have little impact, because it makes the film seem somewhat amateurish (with aid of the acting), like a genre film made on a shoestring budget; and two, the film as a whole is anti-dramatic -- for instance, when the revelation occurs, in a dramatized film it would be devastating: the truth of your lover revealed, and the swirl of emotions it creates; here, nothing -- so there is no cathartic violence (as in "The Godfather," for example), and it isn't lush. But it isn't brutal, either -- you don't get your nose rubbed in it, and I cherished that generosity to the audience.

The digital also helps keep the film grounded -- the only really attention-grabbing aspects of the film, as cinema, are the opening and closing framing of very beautiful music, and one nice over-the-wall camera move. It's like a cleverer "Man Bites Dog," in the sense that this *doesn't* draw attention to itself, that there is no winking or overt displays of cleverness. The film as a whole is subtle (at one point it feels like magic realism, even though we are told, I guess, that it's not), even though individual scenes are not (that the euthanizing of the dog is the only killing that has feeling is very heavy-handed). It's also incredibly easy to watch, and I think that must be due in part because the digital -- clear, crisp, and clean, with a smooth lucidity -- helps you seep into the film quicker, without any fuss. Indeed, without any film atmosphere at all. 9/10

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8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
should be forced on all news spokesmen with Colombian corpses in the background, 16 February 2002

Author: mariaberrios_cl from Santiago, Chile

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'.

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11 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Daring, this movie's got cajones!, 1 November 2005

Author: wotamovie1

I'll put in my 2 cents on this flick for what its worth, not that it matters much but it is interesting to see the wide extremes of opinions here. I'm quite oblivious to the situation in Colombia today. I've heard about the casual violence and the kidnappings through news media. As an outsider, I found the film to be some sort of a modern masterpiece. The use of digital video was odd but I felt somewhat closer to the locale. The screenplay was incisive, witty and at the same time displayed the depths of the human condition. Some have noted that the acting of the young boys to be bad and unrealistic. True, they are not thespians by trade but I thought they displayed their reactions and emotions toward the writer very well. If I was in their shoes I would have been taken in by this writer as well. Why not? He is providing me with what I need and at the same time showing me the compassion and wisdom that is lacking around me. I believe wholeheartedly that this is Mr. Schroeder's most personal work. Why else would one risk his life filming it in Colombia? I've seen some of his other works and none come close to this. The irony of this film is that the cinematography shows Colombia to be beautiful beyond words. It makes me want to visit. Maybe I'll be like the writer in the film and go there to die after I have done everything I wanted to in my life. This is an excellent companion piece to 'Maria Full of Grace.' Both films are two of the best to come out of this decade.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
A Season in Hell…with Barbet Schroeder: Our Lady of the Assassins, 8 March 2007

Author: Benjamin Hardisty from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Barbet Schroeder demonstrates brilliantly in Our Lady of the Assassins (2000) that he still has a genius for directing art-house masterpieces. His first foreign-film in over ten years, is at turns violent, comical and touching. Fernando (played by German Jaramillo) is a writer who's been living abroad for many years and he has come back to his crime-ridden birthplace, Medellin, to kill himself. His goals in life having been completed, he is ready for death. Or is he? At a party his first week in town, Fernando meets Alexis (Anderson Ballesteros), a 15 year old siccario, or street assassin, who works for Pablo Escobar. Beautiful and carefree, Alexis lives by the gun and carries his weapon everywhere, even into church, always on the look out for enemies and men who want to kill him. Much of the movie, lavishly shot with a hand-held digital camera, focuses on the love affair of Fernando with Alexis, he buys the kid anything he wants and lets him live in his luxury apartment (strangely empty, Fernando tells him that he has all he needs, a good view and plenty of good books) and they wander Medellin, comically in search of a taxi driver who will play good music instead of poppy garbage. Along the way of their savage journey, Alexis kills plenty of people, some for mouthing off, a neighbor for playing drums way too loudly at night and even a machete-wielding cabby who is offended that Fernando calls his music garbage. It is a strange kind of love between the two, but it is a love that reaffirms Fernando's passion for life, even when, as seemed fated to happen, Alexis finally gets killed. The gunfight scenes are amazing, the camera work, lighting and acting all give the impression to the viewer that we are there, witnessing the violence that Medellin's inhabitants have become completely inured to. The sex scenes are never distasteful but instead are somehow touching. The actors portray Fernando's cynicism with the violent world around him and Alexis' passion for life, despite his accepting that he can only survive by killing for both pleasure and money, masterfully. Another masterpiece by Barbet Schroeder, easily on a par with his earlier works such as Barfly and Maitresse. Part surreal odyssey, part machine-gun symphony, part allegory, this film speaks volumes on many different subjects.

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