egarcia1970

This ambitious historical drama is based on the (true) tragic story of Felicitas Guerrero, an upper-class late-XIXth Century lady from Buenos Aires. I remember as a kid, reading about her in a history magazine, and thinking "Wow, it would be amazing if they made a movie based on this stuff!". More than thirty years later my wish was granted. Well, sort of. Huge liberties were taken with the story and the acting is "good enough" but nothing to write home about. Director Constantini shows how much films like "Camila" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087027/) and "Gone with the wind" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/) influenced her filmmaking. Indeed, Felicitas reminded me of Scarlett O'Hara in more than one occasion during the movie. Another strong point is the scenery; the 1860s Argentina is recreated in great detail. Overall, a quite decent film.

This must be probably the best of the movies inspired by the life and works of General José De San Martín. The attention to detail, costumes, flags, military uniforms, weaponry, etc. is remarkable. I am so glad I was FINALLY able to watch a film based on early XIX-Century Argentina showing the soldiers correctly armed with flintlock muskets and pistols instead of anachronistic Remington rifles! The natural settings and filming locations provide plenty of eye-candy and stunning views of the Andes and the battle scenes are well done and convincing. So far so good, now for the flawed stuff: Rodrigo De la Serna tends to overact quite a bit at times, and the character telling the story in flashback in 1880 (Manuel Corvalán) is actually loosely based on real-life Manuel De Pueyrredón, San Martín's scribe; the real-life Manuel Corvalán was actually a lieutenant colonel who did not take part on the crossing nor the battle, was 42-year old at that time and had been dead for 33 years in 1880. I know: only pedantic history geeks like me could notice or even care for details like this, but it was one which could have been easily avoided simply by naming the character correctly. Other than that, a quite enjoyable flick. Give it a try.