Javier Bardem plays a head of police in an unnamed South American country that is teetering between a corrupt government and an even more corrupt revolutionary movement. The film's preoccupations, however, are moral dilemmas and the nature of corruption, the movie's bent is primarily aesthetic, and the acting, screenplay and direction are simply little short superb. The characterisation of a man deeply torn in a search for decency and ultimately failing somewhat through his own higher aspiration is, by Hollywood standards, monumental. This is a film that is at once gripping, original, deep and subtly crafted. The role of the dancer is also, in its own right, a complex one and one which begins to address the nature of evil, the ability of art to take us beyond logic (in both a positive and a dangerous way) and also underlines that art generally, unless specifically directed, is neither good nor evil, but more a door that we can open.
Review of The Dancer Upstairs
