Aro Tolbukhin in the Mind of a Killer (2002)

Aro Tolbukhin is a hungarian inmigrant that sets fire to seven people in an infirmary in a Mission in Guatemala, the movie traces back to see what made him do it, from his arrival in Guatemala to his childhood in Hungary.

Directors:

Isaac-Pierre Racine, Agustí Villaronga

Writers:

Isaac-Pierre Racine, Agustí Villaronga

Stars:

Daniel Giménez Cacho, Carmen Beato, Zóltán Józan

7 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Daniel Giménez Cacho	...	Adult Aro
Carmen Beato	...	Sister Carmen
Zóltán Józan	...	Teenage Aro
Mariona Castillo	...	Teenage Selma
Aram González	...	Young Aro
Eva Fortea	...	Young Selma
Jesús Ramos	...	Father
Pepa Charro	...	Dada
Xhévdete Bajraj
Margarita Farran
Ángeles Cruz
Ofelia Mex
Lynn Fainchtein
Rafael Cortes
Margarita Kenéfic

Storyline

Aro Tolbukhin is a hungarian inmigrant that sets fire to seven people in an infirmary in a Mission in Guatemala, the movie traces back to see what made him do it, from his arrival in Guatemala to his childhood in Hungary.

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Plot Keywords:

f rated | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Selected as the official Mexico entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 76th Annual Academy Awards.

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Goofs

When the Nun is boarding the bus in Guatemala, you can clearly see a shot of a Mexican political party (Convergencia) which wasn't around in 1980/81 - it was created at least 10 years later.

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Connections

Referenced in El Crimen Perfecto (The Perfect Crime) (2004)

User Reviews

Awesome. The best word to describe it.

There's so many things to fall for in Aro Tolbukhin. En la mente del asesino (Inside the killer's mind), that it's very hard to talk about it without giving any kind of warning. Let's just say that this movie is like an exercise in cinema but really, really great done. It´s made with super 8, black and white shots, 35 milimeters, color, interviews, flashbacks. Aro Tolbukhin it´s like a movie made a documental or viceversa, which most peculiar aspect relays on the doubt that leaves you wondering, did he really ever existed? The movie follows the later life of an hungarian sailor that arrived in Guatemala, worked in a religious mission and then killed some people. An act for which he got caught and death penalty sentenced. The movie starts because some french documentalists got interested in this character so they interview him prior to his death. Nowadays, some more people got involved and make a deeper research of the character. The one we are witness of -the movie.

For the main part in the history we are guided by a semi slow phase to go look inside Aro´s mind, mainly in order to decode why he did what he has done. Nevertheless, the important thing is that the filmmakers never gives us a sided point of view; they left the judging for all of us and even as we may understand his actions, we clearly never justify them. So, the first half is based upon recollecting information; later things turn into Aro's childhood, giving the movie such an incredible new force (even tough never got weak or boring).

I don't mean -and don't want- to spoil anything; so the only thing left to say is that if by any chance you get this movie near you, believe me, the trip to see it is more than worthy.

Details

Country:

Spain Mexico

Language:

Spanish Catalan

Release Date:

8 November 2002 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Aro Tolbukhin

Filming Locations:

Bois D'arcy, Yvelines, France

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$97,779

Company Credits

Production Co:

Altavista Films, Canal+ España, Lestes Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1