Secuestro express

Years ago, Warner Brothers re-released its two landmark gangster films of the thirties, "Little Caesar" and "Public Enemy" with a brief prologue that said the gangster was a problem "we the public must eventually solve." Writer/director Jonathan Jakubowicz's "Secuestro Express" ends with a epilogue that notes that "half the people of the world suffer from malnutrition, the other half from obesity." It's a stunning message, but it almost gets lost because the film it caps is a stunning thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat and for the most part, keeps you from focusing much on the social issues involved.

Set in Caracas,Venezuela, the film examines what has become almost a regional pastime in Latin America, kidnapping. In this case, its quick, down and dirty snatches of middle class people whose families can pony up relatively modest amounts of money in exchange for getting their loved ones back in one piece. It's literally "Express kidnapping." This particular abduction is of a trendy young upper middle class couple snatched as they snort coke and toke marijuana in their SUV outside a trendy nightclub. That all plays a role in the story, for the nominal leader of the trio of thugs castigates the victims for rubbing their wealth in people's faces by wearing expensive clothes and driving pricey cars. But the kidnappers are not revolutionaries, just minor hoodlums who, in a bid to collect just 40-thousand dollars in ransom, terrorize two perfectly normal people.

Carlos Julio Molina, Pedro Perez and Carlos Madera are outstanding as the hoodlums, as different from standard Hollywood criminals as night is from day. Jean Paul Leroux is also good as the male half of the trendy couple, a man with secrets of his own.

But the star of this film is the female kidnap victim, played by the beautiful and unreasonably talented Mia Maestro. She danced her way through "Tango," she has sung her way through numerous stage musicals and this time, she gets to act her way though 24 hours of hell. She handles the role magnificently, her emotions skipping from rage to flirtatious manipulation, to utter horror when she believes she is about to be raped and murdered.

For those who have seen her on "Alias," playing Jennifer Garner's sister in spying, Maestro more than lives up to the promise she showed there.

This movie is a jolting, sometimes shocking picture that often makes you uncomfortable, but never bores you. See this thriller, but don't ignore its message.

This film, along with "Man on Fire" proves that kidnapping surely makes for good drama. "Secuestro Express" shows the underbelly of a society that is decaying as we speak, a place torn apart by economics and class differences, and a place that is unforgiving and cruel to most of its population.

The 24-hour drama follows a kidnapped couple and their victimizers as their drama unfolds. "Secuestro Express" is rawer than its American predecessor, with its crude language, relentless references to social abuse and sexual references. There are times when I couldn't help feeling sick in my stomach because here was a film where anything could happen. The dialog is frank, the portrayals are very realistic, and the tone of the film is very dark. There are almost no moments when one can feel any respite from the tragedies happening on the screen.

Maestro does a wonderful job as the victim who fully understands what is happening to her and her fiancé and might at times relate to her captors' experience. The last 15 minutes of the film are likely to provoke some heated discussion, as the film reaches its climax. Special mention should go to the actor portraying Budu, a new villain to match in the annals of cinema.

Overall the film delivers and barely misses reaching perfect score because of its production values. Nevertheless its very assured direction, impressive camera-work, and excellent acting prove that bloated budgets and talentless actors might be an endangered species.

Let this film serve as a public service announcement, at the very least. When driving anywhere in any major Latin American city, don't drive a big, shiny, expensive SUVs because you're only begging to make yourself a target. Secuestro Express is less than 24 hours in the life of a rich, young couple and the car-jackers who take them hostage. It's quick-passed, violent, bloody, and even funny at times. It feels real and tangible.

While in the custody of their kidnappers, the young couple is taken to a flamingly gay cocaine dealer who ends up having sex with the male hostage. The beautiful woman hostage is taken to an abandoned and rundown apartment where she is almost raped and is tripping on the ecstasy pills she was forced to take.

In other words, Secuestro Express is not appropriate for small children, but it is a hell of a ride along the lines of Traffic and Pulp Fiction. But it takes place in the seemingly lawless town of Caracas, Venezuela, and that makes it even scarier.

I think it was a very good money, and feeds the paranoia every citizen of Caracas lives with. this movie hit me very close to home, and I could relate to the story very well... sadly.

The technical aspect was OK. I'm not really to nit picky about such things, as long as it doesn't bothers me while watching the movie. The acting was good enough, even great at some points.

Now, the movie can be a little bit biased, which is not necessarily bad. It shows a problem: kidnapping, crimes etc; and social resentment as the fuel of such things... from the victim point of view, being the victim wealthy people, and the criminals, poor people. So I guess people could identify with both sides: either by being disgusted by the elitists Martín; or enraged by how a good nature girl as Carla is passing through such an horrible experience.

At the end, it's nobody's fault.

"Secuestro Express" is a neat little twisty thriller in the exaggerated style of gritty British crime dramas like "Layer Cake," with a pointed political and social overlay.

Using swooping, in-your-face close-up cameras, limited narration and dossier-style on screen character and time descriptors, writer/director Jonathan Jakubowicz, in his full-length fiction debut, captures a docudrama feel to make the kidnapping of a young, lighter-skinned couple by a motley group of "nigros" (darker-skinned) thugs, with a variety of psychological and financial motives for doing this "work", a commentary on class in Latin America, specifically in Caracas, Venezuela.

The individuality of all the characters, including the criminals, adds to the explosive unpredictability as stereotypes of Latin American culture are ironically skewered, including oligarchies, macho men, religion and sensuality, as each person uses political and class rhetoric to justify greed, selfishness and condescension on all sides.

Drugs are caustically shown to have pervasively corrupted and enthralled all levels of the society through a harrowing picaresque exploration of "the ghetto" (as the subtitles translated the geography).

The acting is excellent, particularly Mía Maestro, of TV's "Alias," who goes through an entire spectrum of emotions. Jean Paul Leroux as her boyfriend "Martin" is very good at shifting gears as our sympathies shift around him.

The song selection felt very atmospheric and the soundtrack kept the tension ratcheted up.

The "fire next time" coda didn't quite work or add much to what we think the characters learned that night except assuring us that life ominously goes on among all the classes despite the continuing sharp differences.