(Rated R, 115 mins.)
Director Barbet (Reversal Of Fortune) Shroeder tells the tale of a world-weary writer, Fernando (German Jaramillo), returning home to Colombia’s drug-infested-random-acts-of-violence-town of Medellin, (Schroeder himself lived here as a child), where cocaine shipments mean a reason for fireworks and signs line the streets reading “no dumping of corpses”. Intended to return to die “I have done all that I wanted to do,” he brings with him Alexis, (Anderson Ballesteros), a teen he met at a gay party. This somewhat odd couple cruise the streets where Alexis, a sort of devil-child, quickly fits into the mold of wiping out gangmembers or even taxi drivers for no good reason, while suddenly Fernando gets a jolt that forces him on the edge of a seat between life and death. There is never any sympathy felt toward this gay youth with a trigger-happy mission. Instead the empathy and pain fuel into Fernando’s sadness in realizing Colombia is no longer the same cushy childhood memory, and life is worth saving and risking afterall.
