Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean

/ARTS WEEKLY/ FILM-CHILE: Shakespeare Beaten by Football Gangs

Gustavo Gonzalez

SANTIAGO, Jun 8 2004 (IPS) - In the umpteenth adaptation of a William Shakespeare classic, first-time director Sebastian Araya has set the story of Romeo and Juliet in Chile and the world of ‘barras bravas’, the often violent groups of fans of professional football. The critics see it as a Chilean film industry tragedy.

“Azul y blanco” (Blue and White) premiered in 26 cinemas last month, will never be the box office success that its producers hoped for this film. It delves into the rivalry of two of the country’s leading football clubs and uses as a marketing ploy the big screen debut of Iván Zamorano, Chilean football’s biggest star today.

The film, with a budget of 400,000 U.S. dollars, earned just one star, out of a possible five, from the critics of the local daily ‘El Mercurio’, which meanwhile awarded three stars to “Mala leche”, another Chilean movie that made its debut at the same time as “Azul y blanco”.

Araya went to all lengths to create a film that one would expect to be a sure success, but the final product lacks the most basic element: knowing how to tell a story. And awkward directing prevents him from making the film convincing to audiences.

Such was the conclusion of critic Ernesto Ayala in the supplement Wiken (phonetically, “weekend”) in ‘El Mercurio’. He wrote that the film was irritating because it lacks coherence and “assumes the viewer is so stupid that he will not realise that the details do not mesh. That, overall, is an insult to the viewer’s intelligence.”

In addition to the secondary, mediating and benevolent role played by football star Zamorano, the cast of “Azul y blanco” includes two of the Chilean film world’s most successful stars, Tamara Acosta and Juan Pablo Sáez.

Two other well-known actors, Daniel Muñoz and Ricardo Robledo, play the leaders, respectively, of the “Garra blanca” gang of fans associated with the football club Colo-Colo, and “Los de abajo”, its counterpart of the Universidad de Chile club.

One of the few successes of the film is its harsh and “heavy metal” environment, which captures the sense of the world of fanatic football fans in contrast with the sweet romantic tone of the impossible love between Paloma, of Garra blanca, and Azul, of Los de abajo.

The agents of tragedy, in this failed attempt to revive Shakespeare in today’s era, are Lautaro, gang leader of Garra blanca, who refuses to let Paloma to have anything to do with an archenemy of the rival gang.

On the other side, Bernardo, leader of Los de abajo, cannot stand that his friend and soul mate Azul has fallen in love with an “Indian”, as his gang refers to members of Garra blanca who are fans of Colo-Colo, named for a Mapuche chieftain.

A bit more generous, Aldo Schiappacasse, a sports journalist who is also a film expert, opted to focus on the sociological phenomenon that inspires “Azul y blanco”, but admits he would have a hard time defending it against some of the criticisms it is receiving, a love story that is moving, “but because of its ridiculousness.”

The gangs of football fans “have had the exquisite privilege of putting Chilean football on tenterhooks, scaring off the most faithful spectators from the stadiums,” he wrote.

“Studies show that the cinema attracts three times more spectators than does football… It is time that we recognise that these people will not return to the stadium as long as the stands serve as a refuge for organised violence,” added Schiappacasse.

“In this sense, Sebastian Araya’s film is an achievement. The human portrayal is nearly perfect in the effort to show a group of individuals with no roots beyond the ‘barra brava’, with no loyalty beyond their colours, with no ideas beyond violence.”

But that was not enough to make a good film, not even to attract to the filmhouse seats those who have fled their stadium seats.

In its opening weekend, “Azul y blanco” drew 6,089 people to the cinema, in sixth place behind the number one film, “Kill Bill Vol 2”, by U.S. director Quentin Tarantino, which drew crowds totalling 24,846 that weekend.