Prometeo Deportado

This is the worst movie i ever seen. It have to be banned for the public, i wanted to ask for my money back, terrible awful any other synonym you want to add, the storyline never makes sense. It suppose to be a comedy, i never laugh. I want to support Ecuadorian movies but with this kind of movies is impossible. Ecuadorian filmmaking makes a lot of steps backwards, i thought Ecuadorian films were getting better but i was wrong. I hope this movie will never been seeing in other country than Ecuador, a terrible message, a terrible storyline, terrible jokes. Please this is a disgrace for the art of film making, Fernando Mieles should retire forever and El Rosado Corporation should never produce any movie. I regret for seeing this one, who is going to return my 120 minutes lost

Imagine you are an Ecuadorian writer/director living in a country where the film industry and culture is practically non-existent. Now imagine one of your scripts becomes very popular and, as hype starts to grow, there's an actual chance that the movie is going to get made (and with a handsome budget, at that). Naturally, you'll be inclined to make the greatest movie you can and to include all the ideas that you've always wanted to get across to a large audience but never before had the opportunity to do so.

This is both the blessing and the curse of "Prometeo Deportado", a clever look into one of the most common social phenomena in Ecuador and third-world countries in general: migration. The movie takes place in an airport of an undisclosed European country where some Ecuadorian travelers are forced to live in a waiting room for no apparent reason until the authorities decide what to do with them, and it's in this unlikely environment where we're introduced to the colorful characters that populate this story. Each migrant represents a different segment of the Ecuadorian demographic, whether it's the magician looking to expand his horizons, the model that denies her nationality or the writer who once showed great promise but is now disappointed with his life and his country, among many others.

As the title of this review implies, the beauty of the story lies in the interactions that take place between the characters in this claustrophobic setting, which range from sharing a meal to trying to understand the reason of their imprisonment and figuring out what to do after they get out, whenever that may be. However, the messiness comes with the way in which the story is executed, since it looks like director Fernando Mieles had too many things to say and too little time to express those things in a coherent way, and so the movie has shades of comedy, tragedy, documentary, drama, magic realism and art-house cinema but none of these genres are ever fully realized in the too-short 110 minutes of the film.

All of this, coupled with bad performances by some of the supporting cast make this feel like a missed opportunity, but if you are even slightly interested in the migration issue or are looking for a fresh and touching perspective of the reality faced in third world countries, this is still a movie worth watching.

Although it has gaps, it is still entertaining for the viewer ... because unlike other national films, this one tells you a good story

The movie handles an interesting topic, as is migration for Ecuadorians, throught its differents views really well. I like how it reflects the fact that we, as Ecuadorians, carry our problems abroad. The economic, sociopoliticial, and even personal problems that the movie shows us gives an outsider an excellent view on why would someone leave their country.

The only problem I see is the length. The consistency felt mixed, sometimes the movie was quick and sometimes things came to a halt. I feel that the movie had some unnecesary parts, and some that repeated too much. If it was perhaps 20 minutes shorter, and more cohesive, it would be even better than it is.

It is quite a surprise (and pride) for all of us Ecuadorians that our filmmaking is finally developing. After hearing about this film, the first thing that interested me was the title. This movie had a quite potential for making a great social critic towards immigration problems and resembling it to the Greek myth of Prometheus. But since our mistaken concept of patriotism, the film was just a show-up of the typical stereotypes Ecuadorians have for ourselves, filled up with inside jokes that would never be understood by any foreign.

The filmmaker took a huge risk by trying to develop the plot (if there is any) in one ambiance, but his lack of experience made it quite monotonous and boring. It's 90 minutes of the same thing: The characters doing nothing. There is no evolution in the plot, but a little attempt to attach the magic realism to it (obviously a failed attempt).

What I have to say, mostly as an Ecuadorian, is that our country is more than a roasted guinea pig or a "ceviche". It is a shame that we still think that our folklore is the only valuable thing about us, taking this as an excuse for making "visit our country" type of films. The immigration reality is much more raw and difficult than what this film portrays. I just wish this movie would never leave Ecuador, because personally I think this failure doesn't represent me as an Ecuadorian citizen.