Matar a un Hombre - Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film

Year: 2014

To Kill a Man (Chile; 82
min.)

directed by:
Alejandro Fernández Almendras
starring:
Daniel Candia; Daniel Antivilo; Ariel Mateluna,; Alejandra Yañez

Kyle says:
“TO KILL A MAN sets up the conventions of a revenge thriller and takes
us in an unexpected direction. Director Alejandro Fernández
Almendras has said he started out ‘to make a Charles Bronson movie’
(DEATH WISH and its four sequels) and found himself compelled to tell
an entirely different story. The English title suggests the alternative
TO BE A MAN, as the plot is engaged by a bullying village thug who robs
a mild-tempered non-violent disconnected family man whose priorities
are his job and his family, who do not respect him for his failure to
stand up to the bully. His son does, however, and is shot and seriously
wounded, while the bully shoots himself to make it look like a crime
for which he is innocent. He is of course given a brief prison
sentence, and as soon as he is released, he sets upon the family with
renewed attacks and torture. The father finally calmly murders the
bully with a device seen in numerous WWII movies, whereby a hose is
attached to the carbon monoxide release and the poisonous gas is
rerouted into the truck. He disposes of the corpse, at which point the
film changes direction.

“TO KILL A MAN emphasizes the messiness of killing and disposing of the
results, the most memorable shot being Jorge (Daniel Candia) on the
left, sitting on the shore exhausted and putting a missing shoe back on
the corpse of Kalule (Daniel Antivilo) on the right, bloated, black and
purple. But even more interesting is the haunting portrait of
loneliness that provides the film with its emotional resonance.
Cinematography emphasizes the contrast between the squalor of the town,
and the beauty of the woods where Jorge works and the water where
Kalule has an impromptu burial at sea. 3 cats

“Seen Thursday, March 20, 2014, New Directors/New Films at the Walter
Reade Theater, Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York.”

Matar a un Hombre

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