Cheap Our Lady of the Assassins (Video) (Germán Jaramillo) (Barbet Schroeder) Price

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Customer Reviews of Our Lady of the Assassins

Unsure
The point is definitely made in "Our Lady of the Assassins", and for an American viewer unexposed to the violence and corruption in Colombia, this was definitely an eye-opener. Artistically, however, the film was very disappointing. The acting was mediocre at best, and the camera in it's entirety does nothing for the film... I would vehemently disagree with the reviewer that said that camera technique was similar to that of Amores Perros (a favorite of mine): it looked as though it had been shot with an expensive home video camera... and no stylistic changes were made. The violence was incredibly cheesy... and the plot drags in a very uneventful way. Even the main character in his desperation spouts cliched words of despair and depression; while his emotions are sufficiently conveyed, they are not in any way poetic or moving, and so it is hard to appreciate what he is saying. In any case, the movie was not absolutely awful, but I would say that it had a lot of wasted potential to be a more moving account of the corruption and desperation in present-day Colombia.

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Where Death is accepted as a way of Life
Barbet Schroeder has directed some fine films: "Reversal of Fortune" is one and some not so good films: "Single White Female." All his films have shown Schoeder to be interesting at least and profound and vibrant at best. In his "Out Lady of the Assassins," Schroeder returns to the city of his youth, Medellin, Colombia after a very long absence. Schroeder shares this homecoming with the lead in this film, Fernando played by German Jaramillo who is shocked and revolted yet attracted to the city of his birth. You get the feeling that Fernando, weary with life and too many bad love affairs, has come home to die. We are all taught as children to revere life but Fernando has stepped back into a world where life is not held at a premium and people are gunned down in the streets by roving gangs of young men and boys whose philosophy is "kill first...or be killed." The tone of this movie reminded me very much of Francis Ford Coppola's in "Apocalypse Now" in which we view a world out of kilter; a world gone crazy. Fernando, a gay writer in his 50's meets a young man at a party, Alexis (Anderson Ballesteros) who looks to be 15 or 16 and they are drawn to each other and eventually fall in love. The usual route in this type of affair would have one using the other in one way or another. But Schoeder is too shrewd for that and Fernando and Alexis fall in love without hang-ups or regret. This film is also one of contradictions: Fernando, a unrepentant critic of the Catholic church yearns to see the beautiful gothic cathedrals of his youth. And longing to see the house and neighborhood in which he grew up he finds that his parents and relatives have been killed or died and that his neigborhood has been flattened by bombs and gunfire. "Our Lady of the Assassins" was shot in the same guerrilla-style look as was "Amores Perros," which gives the film a grainy newsreel look that enhances the world-gone-crazy tone of the movie. What makes this film such a sobering and astringent experience is the realization that Schoeder has exaggerated very little here and that the world of Medillin, Colombia is very much as he portrays it. A Major achivement.

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Watch it...AGAIN !
This movie is worth seeing again. If you see the movie, you will WANT to see it again.
The subtle nuances of the film and character interplay are excellent! Fernando's sardonic wit is wonderful.
The camera work is amazing, and the pasodobles are great.
It is too bad that this movie's subject matter has hindered it from more acclaim. Another example of the many great films that didn't come out of the plastic Hollyweird movie machine.
Great characters, great director, great movie...see it, AGAIN!