Bombon El Perro (Subtitled) (DVD)

Bombon el Perro is an Argentinian film that was released in UK cinemas earlier this year.


THE PLOT

Juan Villegas is 52 years old and has recently been made redundant, having worked as a mechanic in a petrol station, in a remote part of Patagonian, for the last 30 years. Resigned to living with his daughter, her lazy husband and 3 children in a small house, Juan tries to eek out a living making knives. These ...
...that he is forced to find odd jobs to make ends meet. Feeling dejected and lacking in self-esteem he sets of in his van to find full-time employment.

After a series of false-starts, a chance encounter on a roadside sets Juan on a path he never dreamt off. He tows a young lady's car 150Km back to her house and repairs it. Upon completion, she offers to pay Juan with a dog (an Argentinian Mastiff). Despite his protests, she insists ... more

Bombon el Perro is an Argentinian film that was released in UK cinemas earlier this year.

THE PLOT

Juan Villegas is 52 years old and has recently been made redundant, having worked as a mechanic in a petrol station, in a remote part of Patagonian, for the last 30 years. Resigned to living with his daughter, her lazy husband and 3 children in a small house, Juan tries to eek out a living making knives. These are beautifully hand-crafted pieces but he's such a bad salesman that he is forced to find odd jobs to make ends meet. Feeling dejected and lacking in self-esteem he sets of in his van to find full-time employment.

After a series of false-starts, a chance encounter on a roadside sets Juan on a path he never dreamt off. He tows a young lady's car 150Km back to her house and repairs it. Upon completion, she offers to pay Juan with a dog (an Argentinian Mastiff). Despite his protests, she insists the dog is of sound pedigree and will make a super companion for him. He gives in and accepts her offer.

The dog, Bombón LeChien, accompanies Juan everywhere and, before long, is attracting a lot of attention. People stop to admire and praise him for his beauty and Juan, in turn, gets a certain amount of satisfaction - he feels proud to be Bombón's owner.

Thanks to the dog, Juan gains temporary employment as a security guard and when cashing his first wage check, the bank manager (a mastiff enthusiast) introduces Juan to Walter Donado, a champion dog trainer.

A long period of training ensues, not just for the dog, but for Juan too, as Walter convinces him that the dog can make him very rich if he is prepared for some hard work. With nothing left to lose, Juan is up for the challenge.

He suddenly finds himself thrown into the hectic world of posh dog shows and the rather delicate business of encouraging Bombón - who appears rather bashful around bitches - to earn money as a stud. Will they make it, or will the cut-throat world of canine competitions see them off as quickly as they arrived?

THE CHARACTERS

Well - as you have probably guessed already, there are two main characters in the film - Juan and Bombón.

Bombón:

Bombón is played by Gregorio and this is a fine debut! A fantastic, muscular white Mastiff, Bombón isn't your average Hollywood animal performer. He is incredibly stubborn, a dog of few words and would much prefer to hang out with his buddies on the street corner than having to waste time in a pooch's parlour getting a cut and blow-dry. He's had little human affection in his life and despite the fact he secretly likes Juan, he feigns aloofness - with great success - but could this be his downfall?

Juan Villegas:

Juan Villegas is played by a "non-actor" of the same name who, in real life, was a car park attendant in Buena Aires for 20 years.

Juan is a wonderful character to watch on screen. His face oozes melancholy, and with a delicate smile and such sad eyes, you feel he has lost his place in the world. What comes across just from watching the way he interacts with others on screen is that Juan is a simple man so he doesn't reflect on what has happened to him - he doesn't think about anxiety, but feels it. Through Bombón, he goes from being one of life's observers to playing a lead role. The gratitude in Juan's face as an entire audience applaud him at his first dog show is delightful to watch.

There's nothing like the friendship between a man and his dog and what makes Juan and Bombón friendship all the more entertaining to watch is their reliance on small glances and gestures to communicate with eachother. At times it's hilarious.

The location of the film makes this very unique. The director, Carlos Sorin, specifically chose to film in a remote part of Patagonia that's generally unknown to tourists. This place is far from "picture-postcard" country: it's cold, windy and reflects the harsh reality of everyday life away from the hustle, bustle and protection of big cities. The landscapes, wide open spaces and unending cool blue skies make for a beautiful backdrop to the story.

The method of film-making was slightly unorthodox. The entire film was shot using three cameras - a steadicam, and two handheld cameras. Each scene was taken several times simultaneously from different angles and the cameras moved with the actors, picking up on every little gesture each character makes. I felt that using this style brings film fiction a lot closer to documentary film-making and worked perfectly with this simple story.

Nobody in the film was a professional actor. Instead, Sorin travelled around Argentina until he found the people he thought resembled the characters he was trying to create. From a skeleton script, he sat with the "non-actors" and they wrote their lines together. This method of casting definately works for this film - there is a very "real" and endearing quality to each of the characters.

I can't help thinking that if Bombón el Perro had been made in the States; it would have made millions at the box office and won a bevy of Oscars. Unfortunately, the way of the West is to consign subtitled films to the "Art House" corner of the video store -such a shame.

This film pulls of the difficult feat of being hugely heart-warming without resorting to schmaltz or ignoring the tough realities of Patagonian life. This is a wonderful story of hope out-witting despair and I highly recommend it.

EXTRAS

- Theatrical Trailer
- Making of BeP: a short doumentary filmed on location, showing how the film was shot.
- Notes on el Perro: The Director, Carols Sorin, Art Director and Director of Photography, Hugo Colace, talk about the themes behind the story, the cast, the location and what it's like working with a small crew in a remote part of Argentinia.
- Other releases: trailers for Crash, Festival, 5X2 and Edukators

FILM INFO

Direcor: Carlos Sorin
Released: Argentina, 2004
Duration: 1h37
Cast: Juan Villegas, Walter Donado, Micol Estevez, Gregorio (The Dog)
Subtitled

PURCHASING
I rented the DVD from my local store but it's available to buy on Amazon and similar online stores for around £14.99. 

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