Other Titles • Men with Guns • Hombres armados (1998)
Synopses for Men with Guns (1997)
1.
It is impossible to predict where John Sayles will travel at any given time in his film career, but Men with Guns is one of the director's most surprising journeys. Shot in Spanish, with a little-known cast, the film is a beguiling mix of the political and the mythical. A well-heeled doctor (Argentine actor Federico Luppi) in an unnamed Latin country leaves his comfortable home, in search of former medical students who may be caught in the political violence of the countryside. Although Sayles casts an unflinching eye on the issues of poverty and "willful ignorance" (embodied by the doctor, a well-meaning but complacent man), Men with Guns has a lush visual style and a great grab-bag of songs on the soundtrack. It's a slow and sometimes dreamlike movie, but by the time we reach the end it feels as though something special has transpired. --Robert Horton
DVD features The commentary track by writer-director-editor John Sayles is unusually valuable in shedding light on the film's mix of political reality and magical realism. It's like spending a couple of hours with a really smart, well-spoken expert on this subject. He also gives background on the shooting in Mexico, and the way the production gave the film a dummy title, given the inflammatory danger of having the words "Men with Guns" written on everything. --Robert Horton
(15 votes)
2.
Taking a vacation from his profitable private practice, a distinguished Latin American doctor (Federico Luppi) sets off on a quest to locate his former students, whom he trained and deployed throughout the disease-ridden rural regions of their unnamed country. Once he steps outside his comfortable milieu, he realizes the depths of despair rural villagers live in, as power-mad, gun-toting soldiers and guerrillas vie for control of the countryside. Gradually stripped of his former idealism, he collects a motley group of pilgrims in search of a legendary village untouched by men with guns.
Director John Sayles, who had just finished LONE STAR, one of his most acclaimed films, shot the film in Spanish, a commercially risky maneuver. The decision pays off in the greater authenticity of the film, which captures the absurd circumstances in which the country's rural population must live. Partially inspired by Francisco Gold's novel THE LONG NIGHT OF WHITE CHICKENS, MEN WITH GUNS touches on the genre of magical realism to present a harrowing portrait of a war-torn Latin American country.
(15 votes)
3.
Dr. Fuentes is a man in search of his legacyseven medical students he trained to work in impoverished native villages. But early in his odyssey he begins to suspects that "men with guns" got there first, and with every step he is confronted by bloody realities he had long ignored. Now, his in an almost desperate quest, but for a mythical village deep in the rainforestone last refuge of hope called Cerca del Cielo. Written and directed by John Sayles, this incredible journey of the heart and mind takes us into uncharted regions of hopelessness and unparalleled dimensions of brutality. Frederico Luppi stars with a powerful ensemble cast featuring Mandy Patinkin, Dan Rivera Gonzales, Damian Delgado, Damian Alcazar, and Tania Cruz in a searing drama from a daring filmmaker acclaimed for such provocative favorites as City of Hope, Lone Star and Passion Fish.
(15 votes)
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