Los muertos (2004)

Director:

Lisandro Alonso

Writer:

Lisandro Alonso

Release Date:

3 November 2004 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Vargas, a 54 year old man, gets out of jail in the prvince of Corrientes, Argentina. Once released, he wants to find his now adult daughter...

Awards:

7 wins

Cast

Argentino Vargas	...	Vargas
Francisco Dornez
Yolanda Galarza
Víctor Varela
Francisco Salazar
Hilda Chamorro
Ángel Vera
Javier Lenciza
Raúl Fagundez
Saúl Gómez
Miguel Altamirano
Raúl Ramírez
José Urdangarín
Mario Omar
Ricardo Arriola
Feliciano Isla
Jorge Araujo

Directed by
Lisandro Alonso

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Lisandro Alonso

Produced by
Florencia Enghel	....	executive producer
Ilse Hughan	....	producer
Vanessa Ragone	....	executive producer
Marianne Slot	....	producer

Original Music by
Flor Maleva

Cinematography by
Cobi Migliora

Film Editing by
Lisandro Alonso
Ezequiel Borovinsky

Production Design by
Lisandro Alonso

Production Management
Micaela Buye	....	production manager

Sound Department
Mauricio Castañeda	....	foley artist
Roberto Espinoza	....	sound re-recording mixer
Santiago Fumagalli	....	boom operator
Catriel Vildosola	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Juan Chechile	....	assistant camera
Martín Mohadeb	....	assistant camera (second unit)

Other crew
Marie Sonne-Jensen	....	assistant to producer

Production Companies

• 4L
• Fortuna Films
• Slot Machine
• arte France Cinéma
• Ventura Film

Distributors

• Filmmuseum Distributie (2005) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Filmoptimistene (2005) (Norway) (theatrical)
• ID Distribution (France) (theatrical)
• Look Now! (2005) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Facets Multimedia Distribution (2006) (USA) (all media)
• Filmfreak Distributie (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Manana (2007) (Poland) (all media)
• Mantarraya Producciones (2007) (Mexico) (all media)
• SBP (2005) (Argentina) (DVD)
• SBP (2005) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Tiger Releases (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep (VPRO) (2009) (Netherlands) (TV)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

Argentina | France | Netherlands | Switzerland

Language:

Spanish | Guarani

Color:

Color | Black and White

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Hong Kong:III | Norway:18 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Corrientes, Argentina

Company:

4L

Meditative metaphors of a man in the jungle, going down river.

Los Muertos is a contemplative and controlled film about men in their environment. The film is incredibly understated, but never boring, in that it is always moving. The lead character, Vargas, is simply moving towards where he wants to go, first to deliver a letter one of the inmates left behind gives him for his daughter, then to find his own grown daughter.

The poetry and grace in the storytelling is in simply watching this man, who has very little interactions with other humans, move forward. He is a man of little words, and of deliberate (and sometimes startling) action. The jungle is a powerful metaphor, of course, as is the river he travels in a small boat. The details of his journey are compelling and almost hypnotic - his smoking-out of a hive to get honeycomb, his sudden grabbing of a goat on the shore to kill it (my, I wish I had been warned of this scene - it happens in one cut and is not faked), etc.

An elliptical comment early on, in which a man cleaning a fish asks if he really killed his brothers, is answered by Vargas, "I don't remember all that anymore." That's about the extent of the backstory, and the film allows you to consider this man's place and if he can ever find what he's going towards. Less is more in this case, and the film-making ends up being powerful, and evoking Anonioni or Dreyer in its confidence that showing a person in his/her surroundings is sometimes drama enough.