La ciudad y los perros

"La Ciudad Y Los Perros" (translated "The City and the Dogs") is one of those cheap Peruvian productions that ends up looking more like a teen exploit film than anything else. A group of teenage boys are at a shady military establishment where some youngsters rule while others are treated as second-rate citizens (that is putting it mildly). When a death occurs, layers and layers of wrong-doing are uncovered and it appears that many of the officers are just as heartless and cold as some of their students. A film that could have sent a real message is damaged by over-acting, poor cinematography, a near invisible musical score and low production values that make the whole thing go into a tail-spin. Honored by many groups in the mid-1980s, but nothing special in the end---not even for the Peruvian cinema. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

This movie sure is a cult film, a different film like most of the latin american films at those years, despite of most of the latin american films, this film doesn't talk about misery and specifics local troubles, isn't the kind of film that is corny and raw, and doesn't show poverty as a mass show, like mostly of the mexicans and colombians film, and it's not another exaggeration of literature cliché like argentinian director Eliseo Subiela did on "Man looking Southeast", or another comunist propaganda like some of the cubans film did it at that time, this peruvian film show human nature, the behaviors and misbahaviors of the young boys that are being preparing to the miltary life but in a deeper point of view, portraits specifically the kind of people that fulls the military institutions, maybe world wide, there is no war, but the war inside of them and everybody else, specially the inside and outside world, the movie it's a general portrait of a miltary school and the kind of people inside there, most of them with internal conflicts, and two faces to show, most of the time the movie shows this behavior in a dark comedy way, discipline is the main conflict of this movie, who determinates that, if the same institution that teach it for "love to the land", doesn't show it?, doesn't talk about corruption in a typical underdevelopment country, but it's about ambigual ethical behavior. Most of the perople sure see this movie but without susceptibilities if you feel identify with one of the characters. Maybe some say that a latin american director couldn't make so complex film, Francisco Lombardi sure did it. Must See.

While I agree with many of the comments already made in terms of the low-to-medium quality of this film's production, its incredible story more than makes up for it.

I used this film in a course I taught twice on Masculinity in Latin American Literature -instead of reading the novel the movie adapts, because it allowed me to include more texts in less time. If you can, read the book, but beware: Vargas Llosa's are usually 500+ page novels.

The story ends up being a virtual textbook on male homosocial structures and systems. It spoke loud and clear to all my students on the key issues at play in relationships of power amongst males. All the guys could relate to the pressures of conformity the movie represents. But male and female alike saw the dichotomies and subtleties present in the strange ways in which young men socialize and force each other to fit into orthodox male culture, or else. Though the context is a bit extreme, a military academy is certainly a more restricted and anxiety-producing environment than the average school, it outlines all the roles and behaviors imposed upon young men by the culture at large -a male-oriented and dominated society.

Despite its limitations as a film, the story stands strong and true. Unfortunately, it remains contemporary in many ways. Not one student felt it was irrelevant; instead they found interesting the metaphoric use of "dog" to signify the barbaric qualities of the military/male systems represented. "Dog" is a cultural signifier they hear in popular US music a-plenty and its use in the film added a new dimension to their understanding of its meaning.

Vargas Llosa's semi-autobiographical tale of male isolation and survival is poignant and deep. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in themes related to the life of boys.

This accurate portrayal of the peruvian military school Leoncio Prado, this shows the diverse problems that students had to go thru while learning the facts of life. Extreme discipline, a fair amount of corruption, without overdoing violence or misery that's common in other flicks. By the way, not everyone who speaks spanish is a Mexican, and trying to say that this is another "cheap Mexican movie" is in extremely bad taste.

This institution exists, and my father was a student here, along with a lot of people I know. 'Unfortunately' I missed the opportunity to study here by barely obtaining decent grades at my regular school :D

The film may have a low budget, a non-existent soundtrack and mediocre acting. Yet the story is so powerful -the movie is loyal to Vargas Llosa's classic novel-, so close to the truth and so well told, it is capable to kick you in the groin.