FILM-COLOMBIA:
A Priest's
Passion for Justice
By Helda Martínez
BOGOTÁ (IPS) - The latest film out of
Colombia is based on the true story of a
priest in a rural town whose passions
include a search for justice in an area
that, like so many in this civil war-torn
country, is hemmed in by armed groups,
whether far-right paramilitaries, leftist
guerrillas or state security forces.
Gabriel is an idealistic 33-year-old priest
who stands up to inept local officials as
well as the heads of the armed group that
holds real power in the town.
Once an irregular armed group, on the left
or the right, has gained control over an
area, it begins to interfere with government
decisions to forward its own interests – an
all-too common scenario that forms the
backdrop for the film "La pasión de Gabriel"
(Gabriel's Passion), whose star, Andrés
Parra, has already won a Best Actor award
for his performance as Father Gabriel, at
the 2009 Guadalajara International Film
Festival in Mexico.
As believing in God as he is ingenuous about
earthly matters, he believes he can bring
about equality, peace and respect for
decisions reached by the local community,
and ignores warnings to stay out of things.
The warnings become more pointed as Gabriel
insists on the need to repair a bridge
linking the town with another town. But the
armed group that controls the area is
opposed because it knows that as soon as the
bridge is built, the army will come in, and
fighting will break out.
In effect, once the bridge is repaired,
thanks to the efforts of the priest and the
community, the army arrives, asserts its
authority, asks barbed questions, issues
threats and warnings, and finally leaves.
But before the army pulls out, Father
Gabriel talks to the officers, explaining
and arguing – as he has already done with
the commanders of the irregular armed group
– in an attempt to keep them from forcibly
recruiting young men from the community.
The film reflects the situation in many
rural villages and towns in war-torn
Colombia, and in that context, "Gabriel's
real passion is the search for dignity, for
people to be able to live their lives in
dignity," the film's director, Luis Alberto
Restrepo, told IPS.
"Diego Vásquez, the co-screenwriter, heard
about a similar situation around 10 years
ago in the foothills of the Andes. Based on
that, we continued to investigate, and found
out that there are many local leaders,
priests and others who, like Gabriel, have
sought a balance of power within the
communities and have been killed for it,"
said Restrepo.
"Gabriel represents those victims, all of
the martyrs who have placed their ideals
above their own lives," said the director,
who captures the cultural essence and
idiosyncrasies of the people of a small town
in the midst of Colombia's nearly
five-decade civil war.
Rural towns and villages where, despite the
challenges posed by the presence of armed
groups - such as getting caught in the
crossfire - solidarity exists alongside
fear.
Local people who adapt to difficult
situations, who are strengthened and become
more resilient, and in consequence choose
bold courses of action in the absence of any
state presence, besides the army.
The film portrays people whose religious
beliefs have a certain elasticity, as in the
case of Gabriel, whose passions include his
girlfriend Silvia, played by María Cecilia
Sánchez – an open secret that comes off in
the film as just another fact of life, and a
reflection of reality.
The priest also clashes with his superiors,
who order his transfer to another town, to
avoid further trouble. But he does not want
to leave the community where all his
passions come together, and to which he has
given his all.
The end appears inevitable: his death.
Despite expectations to the contrary, the
Catholic Church has not protested.
"Actually, it hasn't said anything so far,"
said Restrepo.
Besides the Best Actor award taken in
Guadalajara in March, the directors have
been invited to the 25th edition of the
Warsaw International Film Festival in
October in Poland and to the 24th edition of
the Mar del Plata International Film
Festival in Argentina in November.
The Colombian film that preceded Gabriel's
Passion, "Los viajes del viento" (The Wind
Journeys), directed by young filmmaker Ciro
Guerra, also received strong reviews, and
earned a standing ovation and a prize at the
2009 Cannes Film Festival in the "Un Certain
Regard" section for original and
experimental works.
In The Wind Journeys, Guerra follows the
journey of an accordion-playing minstrel
from the northern coast of Colombia who
travels through vastly contrasting
landscapes in the Sierra Nevada de Santa
Marta mountains and the desert of La
Guajira.
"A trip to the beginning, to the spirit, to
our soul, to what unites our white, black
and native race in something unique like the
music that emerged there," was the
description given by the filmmaker at the
premier of The Wind Journeys in May.
The two films show the progress that has
been made in Colombian filmmaking, the new
paths taken by local directors.
According to "La historia del cine
colombiano" (The History of Colombian
Filmmaking) by Hernando Martínez Pardo, the
first national films date back to 1907 -
documentaries like "La vista del bajo
Magdalena en su confluencia con el Cauca",
"El cronógrafo subiendo por los Andes", "La
procesión de nuestra Señora del Rosario en
Bogotá", or "Gran corrida de toros,
Martinito y Morenito en competencia".
In the 1960s, says Martínez Pardo, films
focusing on social issues took over, such as
"Raíces de piedra", "Tiempo de sequía", "Chircales"
and "Campesinos", among many others.
Then came a period of commercially-oriented
works, many of which were comedies. Even the
question of drug trafficking, hardly to be
taken lightly in a country like Colombia,
was poked fun at in films like "Colombia
connection", directed by Gustavo Nieto in
1977, with a cast of local stars.
Then came movies based on the war unleashed
by the infamous Medellín and Cali drug
cartels.
The films varied widely in quality, and in
general were produced on a shoestring
budget, like "Técnicas de duelo" by director
Sergio Cabrera, which took three years to
make.
But the outlook began to change in 2003,
when a new law on filmmaking went into
effect, expanding interest in national
production by earmarking funds for local
works and encouraging private support of the
industry by granting tax exemptions.
"It is really since then that Colombian
filmmaking has had new possibilities," said
Restrepo, who remembers how things were
before, when he produced "La primera noche",
which premiered in 2002 and was mainly
filmed in the streets of poor neighbourhoods
on the outskirts of Bogotá, where a family
forced to flee their home by the civil war
spends their first night.
That film was also "a portrayal of how the
conflict affects common people," said
Restrepo. |
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