THE VIOLIN (Mexico)

Don Plutarco Hidalgo, his son Genaro, and grandson Lucio earn a living as street musicians. Plutarco (Angel Tavira) plays the violin and Genaro the guitar while Lucio sings and collects donations in public squares. Under cover of darkness, Plutarco and Genaro smuggle guns, ammunition and supplies into the secret camps of a rebel army. Government troops have been ordered to find and exterminate the rebels. The Violin opens with a scene showing soldiers brutally torturing captives to obtain information. It leaves no doubt that the Hidalgos are risking their lives. One night they return to their village as it's being ransacked and burned by the army. Genaro's wife and daughter are not among the residents that manage to escape into the jungle. They've likely been killed or taken prisoner. The government troops set camp in the outskirts of the town, blocking the road that leads to the family's cornfields. While Genaro searches for his wife and daughter, Plutarco approaches the squad captain and asks for permission to pass. Plutarco's unthreatening stance, advanced age, and melodious music eventually help him gain the trust of the arrogant captain. A routine develops in which Plutarco entertains the squad for the privilege of having access to his cornfield_he is missing his right hand so he attaches his forearm to the bow with cloth in order to play. What the captain doesn't suspect is that the courageous Plutarco is bringing guns and bullets buried in his field to the rebels.

The Violin is the expanded version (98 minutes) of a short director Francisco Vargas made previously. The absorbing tale fully deserves the feature treatment; the pace never lags and the duel of wits between Plutarco and the captain generates a great deal of suspense. Black & white lensing is professional and free of mannerisms, perhaps helping to give The Violin a timeless quality. Vargas purposefully avoids anything that specifies time and place, both in the dialogue and in the visuals. The tale brings to mind a number of conflicts in Latin America although, if I had to guess, I'd say this is Chiapas,Mexico during the Zapatista "insurrection" of 1994. The Violin's politics are quite simple: the film is supportive of the rebels to such extent that it could reasonably be called "propaganda". It clearly aims at every stretch to present Plutarco and Genaro as heroic and their adversaries as villanous. The Violin won three awards at San Sebastian when it was shown as a film-in-progress in late 2005. At Cannes 2006, the dignified and stoic Angel Tavira was named Best Actor of the Un Certain Regard section. Then The Violin was nominated to 7 Mexican Academy awards based on screenings at the Guadalajara and Morelia film festivals. The most current information I could find is that Guillermo del Toro is trying to use his fame and clout to find a commercial distributor for The Violin. I wonder if the unabashedly leftist stand has anything to do with the film's failure to gain distribution in Mexico.