El bonaerense is a 2000 drama film directed and produced by Pablo Trapero. The screenplay was a joint effort of Nicolas Gueilburt, Ricardo Ragendorfer, Dodi Shoeuer, Pablo Trapero, and actor Daniel Valenzuela, and partly funded by INCAA. It stars Jorge Román, Mimí Ardú, among others.
The movie deals with the corruption of the Bonaerense Police in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and the lives of those involved in it.
Plot
Zapa is a locksmith apprentice living a simple life in Corrientes with his family. After the locksmith Polaco breaks open a safe and uses him as a scapegoat, Zapa is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in the Buenos Aires police jail, which is pictured as notoriously corrupt. This takes him to the La Matanza barrio in Greater Buenos Aires. Here, Zapa is taken in as the protégé of his superior Gallo and begins to climb the ladder of corruption. At the same time he has an affair with instructor Mabel. His journey through the political underworld as he frames and bribes ultimately takes him to the edge of innocence, and a final confrontation with Polaco.
Cast
Jorge Román as Zapa
Mimí Ardú as Mabel
Darío Levy as Gallo
Víctor Hugo Carrizo as Molinari
Hugo Anganuzzi as Polaco
Graciana Chironi as Zapa's Mother
Luis Viscat as Pellegrino
Roberto Posse as Ismael
Aníbal Barengo as Caneva
Lucas Olivera as Abdala
Gastón Polo as Lanza
Jorge Luis Giménez as Berti
Distribution
The film was first presented at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival on May 21 in the Un Certain Regard section. It opened in Argentina on September 19, 2002.
The picture was screened at various film festivals, including: the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Czech Republic; the Toronto International Film Festival, Canada; the Chicago International Film Festival, United States; the Bergen International Film Festival, Norway; the Stockholm International Film, Sweden; and others.
Reception
Critical response
New York Times film critic Stephen Holden lauded the film and wrote, "There are no crusading moralists to clean up the mess in El bonaerense, Pablo Trapero's grim, dispassionate drama of police corruption, set mostly in contemporary Buenos Aires. This powerful sweat-stained swatch of Argentine neo-realism, filmed in harsh high contrast that throws its characters' faces into deep shadow, follows the initiation of Zapa (Jorge Román), a naïve police recruit, into a labyrinth of sleaze...[the film] is all the more disturbing for refusing to act as an exposé. It just throws up its hands and says that this is the way it is. And its pointed detachment lends certain scenes an almost farcical sense of the absurd."
Awards
Wins
Chicago International Film Festival: FIPRESCI Prize, Pablo Trapero; for the uncompromising and raw depiction of the journey of a man lost in a society without values; 2002. Guadalajara Mexican Film Festival: Mayahuel Award, Best Film - Ibero-American Jury, Pablo Trapero; 2003. Lima Latin American Film Festival: Best Screenplay, Pablo Trapero; 2003. Lleida Latin-American Film Festival: Best Film, Pablo Trapero; 2003. Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Editing, Nicolas Goldbart; Best New Actress, Mimí Ardú; 2003.
Nominations
Thessaloniki Film Festival: Golden Alexander, Pablo Trapero; 2002. Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor, Best Art Direction, Sebastián Roses; Best Cinematography, Guillermo Nieto; Best Director, Pablo Trapero; Best Film; Best New Actor, Jorge Román; Best Original Screenplay, Pablo Trapero; Best Sound, Catriel Vildosola; Best Supporting Actress, Mimí Ardú; 2003. Cartagena Film Festival: Golden India Catalina, Best Film, Pablo Trapero; 2004.