Funny Dirty Little War

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Funny Dirty Little War

DVD Cover
Directed by Héctor Olivera
Produced by Fernando Ayala
Luis O. Repetto
Written by Screenplay:
Héctor Olivera
Roberto Cossa
Story:
Osvaldo Soriano
Starring Federico Luppi
Héctor Bidonde
Víctor Laplace
Music by Óscar Cardozo Ocampo
Cinematography Leonardo Rodríguez Solís
Editing by Eduardo López
Distributed by Cinevista
Production Company:
Aries Cinematográfica
Release date(s) Argentina:
September 22, 1983
Canada:
September 9, 1984
United States:
March 30, 1985
Running time 80 minutes
Country Argentina
Language Spanish
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Funny Dirty Little War (Spanish: No habrá más penas ni olvido) (1983) is an Argentine black comedy film. The movie is directed by Héctor Olivera, and the screenplay was written by Olivera and Roberto Cossa, based on a novel of the same name written by Osvaldo Soriano. The motion picture was produced by Fernando Ayala and Luis O. Repetto; and features Federico Luppi, Héctor Bidonde, Víctor Laplace, among others.[1]

The events of the comedy-drama take place one day in 1974.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Suprino (Héctor Bidonde) is the local Peronist political boss in the small town of Colonia Vela. He plots with the county mayor (Lautaro Murúa) and a union leader (Victor Laplace) to get the deputy mayor Ignacio Fuentes (Federico Luppi) out of power. This is surprising because Fuentes is a man that has followed Peron.

Fuentes is told that he has to fire his assistant Mateo (Jose Maria Lopez) because of his Marxist leftist sympathies. Yet, Fuentes, a man of principals, refuses. This evokes a harsh response from Suprino, who has the police chief intervene.

Fuentes, rather than cave in to pressure, barricades his office, lines up men to stand by him, and gets ready for the first police assault.

Leftist students then kidnap the police chief (Rodolfo Ranni) demanding that the attack on Fuentes stop. Yet, the students actions only help escalate the now raging conflict into a minor civil war.

[edit] Background

[edit] Basis of film

Main article: Montoneros

The film is based on a real political events that took place in Argentina in the mid 1970s. The film depicts, sub silentio, the struggle between the Montoneros political movement and the right-wing Peronist forces.

The Montonero Peronist Movement (Spanish: Movimiento Peronista Montonero) was an Argentine left-wing Peronist guerrilla group, active during the 1970s. Its motto was venceremos ("we will conquer").

After Juan Perón's return from 20 years of exile and the June 20, 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and right-wing Peronism, the Montoneros were expelled from the Justicialist party in May 1974 by Perón. The group was almost completely dismantled in 1977, during Videla's dictatorship.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Distribution

Funny Dirty Little War first opened in Argentina on September 22, 1983.

The motion picture has also been featured at various film festivals including the Toronto Film Festival; the Berlin International Film Festival; the Cognac Festival du Film Policier, Cognac, France; and the New York New Directors/New Films Festival, New York City; and others.

[edit] Critical reception

Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times, appreciated both the acting, pacing, and Héctor Olivera's directorial style, and wrote, "The film has also been so cannily paced - and is so well acted - that there's never much time to consider larger meanings while the mayhem is going on. Though Funny Dirty Little War ends bleakly, the existence of the film itself - the fact that it could be made at all, and with such style - is ultimately invigorating."[2]

[edit] Awards

Wins

Nominated

  • Berlin International Film Festival: Golden Berlin Bear; 1984.

[edit] References

  1. ^ No habrá más penas ni olvido at the Internet Movie Database.
  2. ^ Canby, Vincent. The New York Times, film review, March 30, 1985. Last accessed: January 15, 2008.

[edit] External links