BOMBON, IL PERRO
Argentina, 2004, 97 minutes, Colour.
Juan Villegas, Walter Donardo, Rosa Valsecchi.
Directed by Carlos Sorin.
Here is a film with sub-titles that has attracted a wider audience than might have been expected. You don’t have to be Argentinian to enjoy it.
It’s a dog’s life! Never truer than in this extremely amiable (well, not exactly ‘shaggy’) dog story. Director, Carlos Sorin took his audiences several years ago to Patagonia with three modest but effective short stories in Historias Minimas (which also included a story about a lost dog). We are now back again in what is for most people one of the most remote parts of the world. After Patagonia, there is Cape Horn and Antarctica. Sorin makes sure that we get a good look at it all, the mountains, the desert terrain. We also experience life there, the isolation as well as the small towns – which are still big enough to put on a dog show.
Juan (Juan Villegas) is trying to sell knives after being put out of work. When he is given a dog by a widow he has helped, he is advised to seek out Walter, an expert on pedigree dogs. The dogs we like are a matter of taste. Bombon is referred to as a champion and everybody admires him. Well, he seems to be something of a big brute with a touch of the uglies. For audiences who really enjoy their dog films, it is probably a good thing to recommend that very funny comedy about American dog shows and the eccentricities of their owners, Best in Show.
Actually, the cast look pretty plain themselves. In fact, one of the attractive things about the film is that the main protagonists do not look in the least like film stars. Juan is a simple, quiet fifty-something man. Walter is big, full of bravado. Maybe, he is a bit of a conman, but he knows dogs and is exuberant in his enthusiasm. When Bombon (Lechien) wins a prize and they celebrate at a Lebanese restaurant, Walter finishes up in jail after a brawl whereas Juan meets Susana, a middle-aged singer (no glamour either) who reads his fortune in the coffee grinds.
The dramatic crisis of the film is that Bombon won’t service the dogs he is paid for breeding. Apparently, he has a weak libido though a champion in all other respects. It may seem a strange thing to say but there is an explicit unsimulated sex scene at the end of the film which audiences will welcome!! There is a happy ending.
Sorin likes people and he likes animals. He portrays them all with great empathy. He also has feeling for poorer people who have fewer chances in life. He seems to be saying that this is the lot of most people in this part of Argentina. They suffer from unemployment and hard financial times. However, his film is one of hope and humour. Winner of the award from the World Catholic Association for Communication, SIGNIS, in Troia, Portugal, June, 2005.
1. A human story, an animal story, positive hope and values?
2. Patagonia, isolated, distances, the roads, the mountains, dry? The bar, the dog show? The context for this story? The plaintive and melancholic score?
3. The title, the focus on dogs, audience response to dogs? Dogs in themselves, pets, in show, their skills, characters and personalities, successes and failures?
4. The employment situation in Argentina, ordinary people, scarcity of jobs, the service stations, the café, the singers, the dog trainers, the brick factories?
5. Villegas and his trying to sell the knives, the bargaining? The policeman and the private property, the bribe? The widow, the dog? His receiving the dog? The response of family, friends? The relationship between the dog and himself, tensions, bonds? In himself, age, personality? Quiet? His going to find Walter? Walter building up his hopes, his enjoyment of the dog’s behaviour, the training, the difficulties for training, Walter’s perseverance, the third prize, the winning in the division? The joy of the two, going to the café, his meeting Susanna, admiring her singing? Walter in jail? The going back to the house, reading the coffee grounds? The bond between Susanna and Villegas? The problems with the dog, going to the kennel, the vet explaining that it lacked libido? The decision for Walter to go with the dog, Villegas remaining behind, discovering the escape, the search, the factory, the wild people, seeing the dog with the black dog? The fulfilment of hopes? The return to Susanna, the bond with her, a future? His giving the lift to the young people? Portrait of a gentle man?
6. The contrast with Walter, his size, work, enthusiasms, experience with dogs, memories of Miami, hopes for money, the details of training, the plan, in show, the winning of the division, his getting Villegas to participate? The dance at the restaurant, the taunts, the fight, in jail? The fact that the dog would not mount the other dog? His taking the dog away? The dog escaping?
7. Susanna, her singing, her back-story, loving singing, the Lebanese background, learning the lyrics by phonetics? The lift home, reading the coffee grounds? The final discussion between Susanna and Villegas, hopes for the relationship?
8. The background people, buying knives, the police and the bribery, the widow, family, the judges of the show, the people in the restaurant, at the police station, the wild people, the makers of bricks? Background and authentic atmosphere?
9. The gentle pace of the story, a dog story, the humour, the sentiment, the serious implications, humanity and loneliness, relationships? The final image of the road, the young people, hopes for all?
