The Finger (2011) User Reviews

Failure

[hof-4 · 2/10 · 26 June 2013]

This movie is based on the disconcerting premise that all 500 inhabitants of a small provincial town in Argentina are superstitious halfwits. The script is a combination of bargain basement García Márquez with every offensive cliché on small towns and their people. Argentina's return to democracy in 1983 was not, as this movie implies, a farce including dead candidates running for office.

Production values are good and the actors do as best as they can with the material, which includes some pretty awful lines, but the final result is of no value. If you want an authentic feeling for rural Argentina (including superstitions) see Carlos Sorin's "El Camino de San Diego".

The Finger is a warmly humorous film about a murdered man's finger and the way the digit becomes the oracle by which the townspeople make all of their important decisions.

[franceshugg777 · 8/10 · 4 January 2013]

This amusing little film from South America is full of whimsy and charm. The director could have presented the local inhabitants as being backward, superstitious or overly naive. Instead the story unfolds very naturally as a result of the knowledge, respect and affection the town's people have for each other. The character of the murdered man was admired before his death, and even after the murder is solved, the "miracle" of the way the murdered man's finger influences the fate of his murderer is seen as evidence of the superior character of the victim. It is a sweet, quirky film that I found to be highly enjoyable and can highly recommend.