"Porfirio" by Alejandro Landes

This Minimalist style didn't work. Nothing-happens-till-the-end aesthetic hardly talked about the context of Porfirio's amazing injustice for it could have made the film richer and deeper in a profound way. Latin films often employ minimalism as if it's a ticket to Canne. I just didn't think Minimalism was appropriate for this film. I was at Q&A, the director was very self-conscious, well-spoken, English without accent, as if he was a westerner with a Latin appearance (Brazilian) as his film was also European inside and outside Columbian. He talked about a scene, where Porfirio goes down the hill on his wheel chair and come close to the camera glaring and turns his cowboy hat and Landes talked about this in reference to American Cowboy films. But that was what he thought but I don't think this scene worked effectively, as it was just a gesture that left the audience no clue....

At Q&A, people were so confused for they didn't know the whole Porfirio Ramírez Aldana incident including myself (just a little reading of the press release at MOMA) and Landes' story-telling really didn't help. Landes talked about Suspension of disbelief and that is what he wanted to tell story with. He is saying everything right, in a way wrong, just because you stuff a film with grade-A auteur language, you can make a masterpiece.

As much as this film was successful in festival circuit, I think much success owes to Porfirio Ramírez Aldana incident. It is mare fact of Landes having an access to use Porfirio Ramírez Aldana as Porfirio Ramírez Aldana made a lengend of this film, but not the content, story-telling and drama of film. European film school nerd using Columbian subject matter in disguise of Latin American man as a director, but inside he is just as white as Porfirio's diaper.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/movies/porfirio-a-documentary-fiction-hybrid-by-alejandro-landes.html?_r=1&