Festival de Valdivia: Part IV

Lo Mas Bonito y Mis Mejores Años

Having gone to Bolivia the week before the festival and after having been immersed, at least for an instant, in the political process which is unfolding there, the Bolivian film Lo Mas Bonito y Mis Mejores Años (The Most Beautiful Things and My Best Years), became a natural draw for me. On the Lord Cochrane stage appeared this twenty five year old cochabambino named Martin Boulocq: long hair, Spanish features, dress jacket, jeans, and sneakers. While timidly presenting his film, he promises to come back at the end to answer questions.

The film begins. It takes place in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a city which became famous internationally a few years back when mass protests successfully thwarted the privatization of the public water supply. It is an urban landscape that has obviously suffered years of neglect. Immediately, we get the impression that this is some sort of a documentary. The dialogue, although almost inexistent, is very realistic, and the scene is filmed hap hazardously, coming in and out of focus with jolty frames, camera angles and distances that defy convention, the sound of the street outside is picked up as is a noticeable room tone. Someone works in a video rental place and for what seems like an eternity, nobody really says anything. Someone is trying to sell a car? You can't really tell. Slowly, we begin to situate ourselves in this gritty urban world and come to recognize our main characters. Before this happens, however, several people have already left the theatre.

Visually, it is definitely an acquired taste. Much more interesting is the way Boulocq approaches his film. Apparently, with no script (not one piece of paper) and with only a vague idea as to the structure of the story, the director places his cast and crew into a variety of concrete situations where improvisation is the rule. None of the actors knew what was supposed to take place and they were only supplied with concrete situations where they would have to improvise, not knowing what the other actor might do. It is somewhat similar to the way Sebastian Campos (Chilean director graduated from the Escuela de Cine in Santiago) directed La Sagrada Familia. The attempt was made to document a piece of "provoked reality". As such, the film can be considered a documentary as well as an instance of fiction. Excellent film editing by Guillermina Zabala.

The story is simple but very revealing. The quiet and bearded Berdo is looking for a way out of Cochabamba and in order to pay for his ticket, he has decided to sell his 65 Volkswagen, which eventually becomes the audience's main vehicle around the disturbed city. Victor, a video store clerk, becomes his best friend and helps him in the campaign to sell the car. Although they share a lot of time together, it is Victor who doses most of the talking and persuading, while Berdo, who is a very quiet and timid young man, passively absorbs his philosophical ranting. Victor is a troubled cochabambino, plagued with the impossibility of his projects and dreams. The only two things that are keeping Berdo from committing suicide, it seems, are Victor's "teachings" and the possibility of leaving cochabamba. The arrival of Victor's girlfriend Camila saves the story from floundering but also adds to the tormentuous relationship between Victor and Berdo.

The film is about how young people who are faced with a bleak reality and an even less appealing future struggle to maintain some level of dignity. It is a groundbreaking film which indirectly tackles some of the persistent social problems in Latin America.