Pablo Larrain's Neruda is an ode to the transcendent qualities of art, a film far more interested in framing the power artistic expression has on the individual and the collective consciousness than it does have on any type of political commentary. A liberal biopic about Chilean politician Pablo Neruda, who became a fugitive in his home country in the late 1940s due to his affiliation with the communist party, Pablo Larrain's Neruda is truly ambitious in its execution, delivering a hodgepodge of tones which ocillate between introspective and slapstick, a film that is laudable in its ambitions regardless of the fact that it feels somewhat unsatisfying in the end. A film that is essentially framed as a dualing narrative between Pablo Neruda & a determined police inspector, Óscar Peluchonneau, Larrain's film never fully realizes the potential of its story, as both these characters themselves quest for some type of power, whether it be proving their respective worth or being put in charge of a whole country. The lust for power and control in government, regardless of the faction in charge of the state, is an interesting antidote Neruda touches on but never develops, intent instead of being a film about the transcendntal power of art, naively believing the empathetic idea that anyone "for the people", is intrinsically good for them. Neruda himself, a member of the bourgeois, lacks the humility necessary to understand the true plight of the downtrodden, with the film suggesting that his empathic nature toward the impoverished being more than enough to trust. Perhaps the film's most interesting component is how it captures the relationship we all share with one and other, demonstrating the drifting ideologies, the conflictions and in the end the resolutions that must be made for all individuals to be free. This is best realized through the encounter between Neruda and a Capitalist landlord who helps him escape towards the end, with the two having a shared dissatifisaction with the fascist state, one which restricts the freedoms of the people. Pablo Larrain's films tend to excel in mimicking the aesthetic of the time period they wish to exhibit, and Neruda is no different, featuring a hazy, muted aesthetic that perfectly transports the viewer back to the era in time, with the night photography in particular delivering an impressionistic sense of tension and danger. Idiosyncratic, Pablo Larrain's Neruda is a film that structure feels framed more like a piece of poetry than a novel, an ode to the everlasting effect art has over all of us, a film that triumphantly captures the clashing ideologies and the shared humanity we must all have for the individual, regarless of one's political affiliation.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
|