THE DANCER UPSTAIRS
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: A police officer tries to track down a terrorist revolutionary leader. At the same time he finds himself attracted to his daughter's ballet teacher. Too much of the story is familiar elements recombined and creating surprisingly little suspense. The story had potential as a tense political thriller, but it never clicks into place. Rating: 4 (0 to 10), 0 (-4 to +4)
In an unnamed Latin American country not too different from Peru (though the film was shot in Equator) a revolutionary leader, the self-named "Presidente Ezequiel," carries on an unpredictable campaign of terrorism and killing. The police are unable to stop or even identify him. He does not even seem to have a manifesto. All the police have is his trade mark, a slogan on a sign and a dead dog hung by the neck at the site of each attack. He seems to have an army of followers with children ready to die for his cause. One wonders how he can have as many in his army as the film implies he has without any public statement about what he stands for. That is a major implausibility in the film.
Augustin Rejas (played by Javier Bardem) is a former lawyer turned policeman. He idealistically went from a highly paid career in one part of the law to became a police functionary rather than to let himself be corrupted or have to deal with other people who are corrupt. Now he faces the fact that after rearranging his life the police are usually no more honest than lawyers were.
Five years earlier Rejas photographed the man who is now thought to be Ezequiel. Now he has been put in charge of the operation to find him again. The moral Rejas is a family man with a wife and daughter to whom he is devoted. In spite of this he finds himself fascinated by his daughter's ballet teacher Yolanda (Laura Morante). His life becomes torn between his detective work tracing down Ezequiel and maintaining his family relationship while toying with his realization that he is attracted to Yolanda.
THE DANCER UPSTAIRS is low key as a political thriller and a little languorous as a love story. Where Costa Gavras would tell us the politics of each side, the script by Nicholas Shakespeare from his own novel tells us very little more than that the government is corrupt and Ezequiel opposes the government. The audience is as much in the dark as the country's government as to what Ezequiel stands for. Still neither Ezequiel nor the government seems like much of a bargain. The ending of the film is badly telegraphed.
Actor John Malkovich directs for the first time and, unpopular as this opinion may be, I blame Malkovich for the film being what I consider a misfire. This material needed an experienced director. In the right hands this tale could have been a Graham Greene level study of human personality told against the backdrop of turbulent times. In the hands of Malkovich it becomes a little too obvious and is more STATE OF SEIGE crossed with CARMEN. Malkovich uses some unsubtle and manipulative effects. This is no more obvious anywhere in the film than in the self-indulgent final scene that goes on for minutes after its point has been made. THE DANCER UPSTAIRS is shot in murky, dark photography so that in some night scenes is takes some effort to make out what we are seeing. Be warned that Malkovich does not pull back from showing explicit gore.
There is little surprise or novelty in the plot of THE DANCER UPSTAIRS. A political thriller needs to evoke the emotions of the audience. In a film that pits the corrupt against the totally ruthless it is hard to feel much empathy for either side. I rate it a 4 on the 0 to 10 scale and a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Copyright 2003 Mark R. Leeper
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