Como el gato y el ratón

A delightful mix of happiness in the middle of poverty, creativity, malice, and revenge.

Near downtown Bogota(uphill in the shantytowns) the day to day life of a neighborhood changes forever once lighting services are available.. and a community that was once happy living in unity gets gradually infected with greed... and a shameful sequence of joke-revenge-injury-death depicts the sad story of a country and a culture that can't hardy find it's way to progress.

You have to be used to Colombian movie style to enjoy this one, and understand basic facts and behaviors that make the whole point in this film. It wasn´t a complete waste of money, and I could say I'm even proud of the quality of this very Colombian plot, and the ending didn't dissapoint me at all;I would also like to make note of the great perfomance of Julio Escallón (Albino).

One very pleasing surprise was to see this Colombian tragicomedy, first film of Rodrigo Triana. With some references to Shakespeare (Romeo and Julieta with return of nut including) this film narrates the history of two families in a marginalized district who are themselves become muddied with the coming of the electrical light their houses. The progress versus human nature, how a man (and his family) can face the fact of to have power? And the envy of the neighbor? I can smell total revenge in so many levels. With very good rate, and between laughter and laughter, the director takes us of the hand to know the being more primitive than he lives in each one on us. Recommendable.

The Trianas are like a plague to Colombian cinema. Jorge Alí has made almost unbearable pieces of crap on Tv, stage and film, and now (uh, oh) comes his son, Rodrigo, with this once again irresponsible film about how the poor people of Colombia are nothing but savages, uncapable of dealing with something so simple as having electric power on their neighborhood. This one is a mean-spirited movie, wich makes fun and turns into a comedy the difficulties that the lower classes of Colombia have to deal with in their daily life. All of the characters lack any dignity, spirit or, for that fact, anything good: They're all reduced to cliches and sketches in order to amuse the audience, with no thought whatsoever given by Triana to make them three-dimensional, dignified, troubled human beings. ¡¡It even has a role for "Betty la fea" in there!! On a narrative and technichal level, the movie does represent an improvement on most colombian cinema, but it's a pity that this goods service such a morally bankrupt and corrupt movie, made by the upper class as a school assignment on the lower class: just like looking at frogs and going "Ewww... look how this savages kill each other". Shame on Mr. Triana.

This film was mainly interesting to me because it was set in Bogotá. I seldom get the opportunity to see films set in or about Colombia and so was very curious about Colombian-style film making--and just seeing Bogotá --even the shantytown part of the city.

I've come to expect this kind of black comedy from the Spanish. And, in fact, Como el Gato y el Ratón reminded me somewhat of the Spanish (black comedy) film La Comunidad, in its portrayal of neighbors turning on one another. I never have been able to watch La Comunidad to the end because, at some point, the violence in it gets to be too much for me, and I just can't bear to watch any more.

I DID watch all of Como el Gato y el Ratón, and it didn't quite get to the point where I had to turn it off. But, it too, goes a little beyond "black comedy" toward mostly just black without a whole lot of humor left.

It was a little over the top, but it held my interest even though my Spanish is not good enough to understand every word. Obviously, I missed some of the subtleties of the film both because I'm not from Colombia and Spanish is not my first language.

The film was just interesting enough and the Bogota setting exotic enough that I'd recommend it.