Los siete locos

LOS SIETE LOCOS, an Argentine cinema classic, won the 1973 Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, and is arguably the best Argentine film of the decade. It has recently been launched in video (without English subtitles) in a very watchable format. The film does feature Norma Aleandro and Hector Alterio (paired in the 1985 Oscar winner THE OFFICIAL STORY, and still active in acting.) In LOS SIETE LOCOS, they are both in their thirties, and the perspective this film offers of the earlier phase of their careers is interesting, but by no means the main reason to watch this movie. Of course, their legendary names and the award winning pedigree of the movie drew me to it, but Aleandro and Alterio are really supporting actors in this film, and not the main characters, nor do they have scenes together. Their characters are interwoven into the lives of the SEVEN CRAZY PEOPLE as the title suggests. Their names, along with Alfredo Alcon's and Thelma Biral's (who have more screen time) just happen to be the first in alphabetical order. This is a wonderful marketing coincidence for the film as the two went on to become Argentina's most famous veteran film stars. As good as they always are to watch, Aleandro and Alterio are by no means the main reason to watch LOS SIETE LOCOS . This film is an excellent dramatization of Roberto Arlt's novel, a study of the complex socio-political climate of pre-World War II Argentina. After watching it, it is easy to see why the country has consequently suffered under Peronist and military dictatorships, terrorism, anarchy, economic instability, and even today are still on the way back to a stable democracy, and economy. A wonderful film when released (prior to Juan Peron's return in 1974), and even better today for the great perspective on Argentine history it now offers in hindsight.

Roberto Arlt (1900 - 1942) disdained polite society and the Argentine literary establishment (the latter retaliated in kind and criticized his sometimes rough and unpolished writing). After holding various menial jobs he settled as a journalist in two leading Buenos Aires newspapers (El Mundo and Crítica). His chronicles were based on direct and incisive observation of diverse Argentine characters, some of them mainstream and middle class, others marginal: criminals, both petty and serious, prostitutes and their pimps, failed inventors (Arlt was one of them), dreamers hatching crazy schemes to make it big. These characters, sometimes distorted and magnified by Arlt's vivid imagination, populate his novels and short stories, in particular Los Siete Locos (The Seven Madmen, 1929) and Los Lanzallamas (The Flamethrowers, 1931), which serve as a basis for this movie. The theme that underlies both novels is a revolution of unidentified ideology, eternally in the planning stages. The planning, in fact concerns only the taking of power and the dislocation of society by application of awesome violence; what the final objectives of the revolution are is apparently of no concern to any of the seven madmen (some are women).

Director Leopoldo Torre Nilsson and his writers have done a good job of selecting parts of both novels that add up to a coherent movie script. The direction is well paced and the reconstruction of time (the 1920s) and place (Buenos Aires and environs in that time) is excellent. Very good cinematography as well. Alfredo Alcón does an excellent job but it has to struggle with his natural good looks and earnestness to play Remo Erdosain, the main character. The rest of the cast includes some of the best Argentine actors of the period like Norma Aleandro and Hector Alterio (later of international fame).

70 years after his death Roberto Arlt remains a fundamental Argentine writer, in spite of objections leveled at him over the years by many of his "polished" colleagues. This movie does justice to his work and hopefully will awaken interest in it. Watch this movie, then read the two novels, if possible in the original Spanish.

*PLOT AND ANALYSIS GIVEN*

This intriguing film, which was written by the great Argentine writer, Roberto Arlt, who is unknown in most parts of the world, is a splendid feast for those interested in politics and literature. The film is rather subdued and there is an ironic tone in all of the scenes, because the main character is a weak man who can not stand up for himself. He invariably is led towards meaning by an astrologer, who is a pseudo-revolutionary who wants to destroy the government merely because he himself is an incorrigible. In the way, we meet many of Arlt's characters, whom he saw in the Buenos Aires of his day, which was the 1920's, there are whores, pimps, murderers and mean spirited capitalists who all have very little values or idealism.

Erosadain is a man beset by failure and when the plot calls for action, he is only too willing to comply. He is left by his wife and even the whores find him peculiar. The film is very well done, with just some complaints here and there, like the contrived attack on the astrologer's life by his own henchmen and the shooting which takes place, it seemed too staged and simulated. The seven madmen is a metaphor for the seven deadly sins and they are each represented by men who are part of the revolutionary circle.

"The Seven Madmen" draws on two novels by Roberto Arlt to show us the opulent and seedy words of Buenos Aires in the 1920s. Erdosain (Alfredo Alcon) is a failed inventor who allows himself be pressured into giving up his dreams, marrying a woman he doesn't know, and taking up a job as a bill collector that he grows to hate. A weak man, Erdosain can't no to anyone, including an astrologer who enlists him as one of seven members in a secret anarchist society that sets out to destroy the Plaza de Mayo, Argentina's religious, commercial and government center.

Much of the movie takes place in the working class rooming houses, brothels and tango bars of the period's and it also shows us the era's political and criminal underworlds. Although this a well produced picture with good costumes and sets, there is nothing glamorous about the places shown or the people who frequent them. Erdosain's rented rooms are as sad and depressing as the life he leads that results in his embrace of violent anarchism.

Look for good supporting performances by Norma Aleandro and Hector Alterio, two of Argentina's most famous actors. Highly recommended.

8/10