EL BONAERENSE
Argentina, 2002, 92 minutes, Colour.
Jorge Roman, Dario Levy, Mimi Arduh.
Directed by Pablo Trapero.
In 1999, Argentinian director, Pablo Trapero, won critical acclaim with his almost documentary life drama of working men, Mondo Grua (Crane World). His second film has a grainy, down to earth look with a kind of documentary intensity as it introduces as to a 32 year old locksmith in the provinces, Zapa, who escapes a gaol sentence by being introduced by his uncle to police chiefs in Buenos Aires. Zapa goes through the training program, has an affair with an instructor, Mabel, but is seen by the corrupt authorities as one of their own and is put to work collecting payoffs. The film immerses its audience in this world of police stations, tawdry city suburbs, petty crime and a system that assumes that everyone should be on the take. In this way, it reminds audiences of the Denzel Washington police thriller, Training Day, although El Bonaerense makes it clear that this is not fiction.
1. The films of Pablo Trapero, focus on working-class people, ordinary towns and suburbs of Argentina?
2. The setting of the country town, the workshops, the cafes, the police station and prison? The comparisons with Buenos Aires, the police station, apartments, the streets? The ordinariness of the city? The action going on there? The musical score and its Hispanic atmosphere?
3. The focus on Zapa as a 32-year-old in the countryside, the locksmith, being persuaded to open the safe by Polaco, the police coming for him, interrogations, in prison? Polaco escaping? Zapa and his relationship with his mother, family?
4. Zapa's uncle and the contacts in Buenos Aires, getting him to join the police, getting him out of the town? Influence, friends, the potential for corruption?
5. Zapa in himself, an ordinary man, his work as a locksmith, the demands made on him as training for the police? Arriving, the connections, the details of the training and his responding to them? Mabel's lectures? His beginning a relationship with her? Discovering her son?
6. The authorities, their interest in Zapa, the possibilities of using him, especially for picking up payments? The initial officer in charge, his reporting to him? The change of authority, the supervisor, getting rid of officers and bringing on new ones to keep the corruption safe?
7. Zapa and his police work, the guns, shooting, arrests? Interrogations? His picking up money for the bosses? Mabel's reaction, her not wanting to have anything to do with him?
8. His own bewilderment, taking the situation for granted, obedient to authorities? His desperation in his relationship with Mabel and her rejection of him because of the corruption?
9. The set-up and the shootout, getting the money, his commander shooting him in the leg, fabricating the situation, getting him the government commendation?
10. His return to the country, family, his prosperity as a policeman? His having a chance to consider his values? What of his future? Conforming or thinking independently?
11. A picture of Argentina, the ordinary life of the city, serious and petty crime, police corruption and being on the take, the consequences for law and order, the administration of justice? A culture with an experience of fascism and oppression, attitudes towards authority and obedience? The possibilities of change in Argentinian society?
