Synopsis
A former soccer player whose son is in the hospital waiting for an organ transplant and, in his desperation to get money to access a quick surgery, he gets involved in a case of human trafficking.
2018 ‘Muralla’ Directed by Rodrigo Patiño
A former soccer player whose son is in the hospital waiting for an organ transplant and, in his desperation to get money to access a quick surgery, he gets involved in a case of human trafficking.
Great camera angles, colors, effect of the surrealness of of shock and grief. Decent story though it drags a bit. Actors were good. My biggest complaint is that even though it’s a sad story, grief is shown in a pretty good way, and the ending hits hard, I still wasn’t very affected emotionally. I can only attribute this to lack of character depth.
No me gustó. Una peli que no está a la altura de la complejidad de un tema tan duro como la trata de personas. Tiene un estilo lento y angustioso agotador que no llega a constituir un thriller de denuncia ni tampoco un drama potente, todo muy superficial. La dirección abusa de los recursos técnicos con tanto juego de encuadre y movimiento de cámara. Al final encima termina siendo muy pesimista. Comparte cierto espíritu con Siete Cajas y La hora cero, pero aquellas tenían al menos un poco de vértigo.
El cuento es bueno pero la película tiene muchas fallas en sus aspectos técnicos. Hace mal uso de su cinematografia por una película de suspenso, y no presenta la película en manera professional.
this is just a very sad circumstance that everyone is in because you understand why they're doing it but they still try to have some form of redemption that ultimately falls flat and you know there's really no happy ending or way out and that the main lead is doomed one way or another
It's risky to let an unlikeable character carry the weight of the film, but here it worked. Muralla is the kind of dude who would break a few glasses in order to fix the glass that he accidentally broke before, and blames the guy who told him where the glassware cabinet was.
The film has some great, well thought shots. But the acting is subpar, flickers between zero to hero from one scene to another with so much ease that you'll find yourself occasionally laughing at the ridiculousness of some performances.
And of course it couldn't be a Bolivian film without some good ol' unnecessary violence against women. Not Oscar worthy, but the finale is remarkably poetic.
When I found out this was Bolivia's entry for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar from this past year, I was surprised. There are so many incredible foreign language films on offer, I couldn’t quite find the magic and brilliance that allowed ‘The Goalkeeper’ the make the shortlist. There’s too much plot to make this a character piece, and too much character to make it plot-driven. Nor is it balanced. This film only has two acts, needing a better middle to really hook the audience. And when the grim second half comes along, it’s difficult to follow it through and be okay with what Patiño has presented. I can see what he was going for, but it just needed more care to get there.
- Jess Fenton
Read Jess' full article...
www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-the-goalkeeper-bolivian-sex-trafficking-and-a-fallen-soccer-great