The title is ambiguous. Los Fuertes can mean The Tough Guys or something similar as well as The Forts. These forts' history as the first ones to have been taken by Chilean nationalists in 1820 from the Spanish frames the story. Scenes of the reenactment of this historic victory take place at various times during the film and impart a sort of impregnability to the other story recounted, the hot and sultry love affair between a local bosun and an architecture student on a visit to his sister before leaving for Montreal for a post grad course.
There is chemistry between the two leads - no fake dry kissing here. Their affair is deep and swift, happening in the space of a few days but causes changes in the local community that impinge on work and other relationships. Along the way, a family relationship is mended, a childhood home revisited, a business decision is taken, a spurned lover takes revenge and all this stems from the affair that we see unfolding.
The ending is bittersweet. There is no rancour and no sentimentality. They have made their decisions.
