Dias de Santiago (2004)
A total slice of life movie showing a lower class (and probably very common) family in a poor section of Lima, Peru. The main character has come back from three years in the military (fighting guerrillas and Ecuadorians, he explains) and he can't get a job, can't fit in. This is the plight of soldiers world round, and the core of the whole film noir content in American post-WWII films. So it matters, it's powerful, and it's believable.
It also doesn't especially rise above its daily horrors--Santiago trying to keep in control, seeing his violent brother beat his girlfriend, having the same girlfriend seduce him as she asks him to kill the brother, finding the father having sex with Santiago's little sister, and lashing out against his own girlfriend, who is pretty decent overall, wanting an ordinary life.
But an ordinary life can't seem to be found, or not easily, as he looks for a job. There is no one blamed in particular, just a spotlight on how hard it is for people to readjust to life after years away doing the military's bidding. And it's in that navy, for Santiago, that he felt needed and powerful and capable. Other ex-soldiers meet up with him and try to get him to rob a bank with them, but Santiago is a paradigm of the good man, trying to be kind to women, defend the innocent, and get a job. Life is just not always cooperating.
For a U.S. citizen living well and aware of my luck, and some education and hard work but mostly being in the right country in the right century, and really felt for the dilemma of this man. And I made it relate to the similar plight of my own countrymen and women, here, as well as in countries everywhere. Is there something more that can be accomplished to make things more open and helpful? Does the military have a role to play in the transition to civilian life?
To some extent that is the point of the film. It doesn't go anywhere in particular, just paints a horrible situation and a humble, determined man pushed to the edge by circumstances. Shot in a cinema verite style so common now, it might even pass for a slight documentary at times, except for some unnecessary flipping between black and white and color. This film won't be for everyone, but it's a strong example of its type, and important for its origin in South America.
