La sonámbula

Argentina's cinema is sadly lacking in sci-fi, so I was surprised when I came across this little gem. La Sonámbula (Sleepwalker for foreign audiences) is a showcase of everything good within the genre: political commentary, dystopia landscapes, a complex plot. The subtle nods to giants in the genre are here and there - from technology similar to that seen in Blade Runner to the Orwellian government that the protagonists are intent to escape. Perhaps the weakest points of the movie are the one- dimensional female lead, accentuated by Viruboff's stiff, mechanical performance, and the script, with lines that for an Argentine would seem forced, if a bit outdated.

The film moves around a very good idea, the dream and the forgetfulness like a way to lose our own identity. But... The movie is so much boring, the excellent effects and artist direction recreating the Buenos Aires of the year 2010 is not enough to involve the spectator who want that movie ends soon. The wonderful end catches all the public between the sleep and the exit door of the cinema.

Let us trade at least 100 of the last tedious, stale Hollywood action films for Spiner's La Sonambula. This is not your ordinary sci-fi film.

In Buenos Aires, 2010 AD, a government experiment with chemical weapons goes out of control, entirely erasing the memories of hundreds of thousands of its citizens. The government provides a recovery program to supposedly rehabilitate the afflicted, returning them to their families, professions and former identities. But a man named Gauna is leading a resistant movement, professing the dreadful truth: the new identities are a lie, even the families they were returned to are bogus.

Meanwhile, outsider Eva, a new victim of the mass amnesia, is caught and her dreams studied and reveal her connection to Gauna. She is set free in hopes of catching him. The government sends another citizen after her, Ariel, telling him that he is actually a spy for the state and should kill both Gauna and Eva. As they try and escape from the city they fall in love, but continue to struggle with issues of truth, deception and memory.

The grand fairy-tale quality of La Sonambula is supported by Spiner's use of both color, and black and white film. Other uses of contrast I appreciated were the quiet, conflicted primary characters meeting some of the real heroes of this story who were bold and fearless in their resistance to the brain washing attempts by the government.

This is one of my favorite science fiction films because there seems to be less fiction and more parallels with reality than you might expect from sci-fi flicks. I see this film as a brilliant metaphor for our times and relevant for anyone who needs faith in the possibility of good contemporary film-making.

'Sleepwalker' (La Sonambula) is my first experience with Argentinian science fiction, and if the quality of this outstanding movie is any indication, I hope it won't be my last. Set in 2010 after a mysterious "accident" has caused thousands to become amnesiacs. A young woman, Eva Rey (Sofia Viruboff) is one of these citizens and is believed by the authorities to hold the key to this strange situation. She is also thought to be connected to the much sought after subversive revolutionary Gorrion (Gaston Pauls). Eva is allowed to leave the experimental facility that has been treating her, but she is accompanied by self confessed stool pigeon Ariel (Eusebio Poncela). Instead of spying on Eva Ariel begins to fall in love with her. On top of that nothing is as it first appears in this intriguing blend of fantasy, memory and dream. Filmed mostly in black in white with Eva's intermittent bursts of memory in colour, this is an intelligent and stylish movie that reminds one of everything from Alex Proyas' 'Dark City' to Jean Rollin's 'Night Of The Hunted', without resorting to mere pastiche. An extremely original and effective mind-blower. Highly recommended.

I've seen this movie in a festival in Porto, Portugal called Fantasporto. I was amazed because it didn't win a single prize and it was my favorite movie in the festival. It's a strange, curious journey into a black & white world where a town was ravaged by an explosion in a chemical plant and almost everybody lost their memories. A team was assembled to try to reconstruct the lives of all these people and one of the main tools they use is dream analysis. They are baffled by a strange woman who never sleeps but has daydreams of a mystical resistance fighter who has promised to bring down the system. Confusing and extremely beautiful, this movie reminds us of the works of George Orwell, the great Twilight Zone series and the classic Metropolis by Fritz Lang. Unmissable by fans of dark, strange, thought-provoking movies.