Post by Vits on Sept 1, 2020 16:23:09 GMT
Despite a weak performance by Miguel Ángel Solá, CRIMENES DE FAMILIA (THE CRIMES THAT BIND) is a compelling drama with courtroom scenes that don't contain the theatricality we expect from the genre. Both counsels use trick questions a couple of times, but they don't pressure their witnesses. No one ever objects or is held in contempt. Hell, voices are rarely raised. And yet, it's never boring. The 99 minutes fly by. Whenever a flashback starts, it's not made obvious at first. You have to wait several seconds for the visual/verbal evidence. Keep that in mind and you won't get lost. This movie continues the current trend of exploring the dark side of privilege, except now in Argentina and in a much subtler way than you'd expect. In the rest of the paragraph, I'll summarize the plot and I'll point out some details that are never said out loud by any character: A man named Daniel has been falsely accused of a crime by Marcela, his vindictive ex-wife. When Alicia (his wealthy mother) finds out, she calls her Una negra de mierda! The Netflix subtitles wrongly translate this as "She's full of shit!" In Latin-American countries where the majority of the population is white, the Spanish word for "black" is used as a general term for anyone who has dark skin, mainly the descendants of indigenous tribes. I know there isn't a direct translation, but there were ways to indicate Alicia's discrimination. In fact, it's very likely that she was being more classist than anything. Gladys (Alicia's maid) has also been arrested for another crime, but we know from the beginning that she's guilty. When Alicia testifies, she points out how much she's helped Gladys and Santi (her son). I noticed that she got defensive very quickly. It didn't feel like pain due to ungratefulness, but rather the wish to throw her good deeds in Gladys' face, which is not what kindness is about. There's a scene where 2 workers are carrying fragile objects and Ignacio (Alicia's husband) gives them directions. That's fine, but then he turns the snob levels up by telling his wife "You have to be on top of them."
7/10
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It's eventually revealed that Marcela was telling the truth about Daniel. Not only that, but he raped Gladys. Now why would someone do all that? Because he thinks he can get away with anything. In fact, compared to Marcela, Gladys has darker skin, less money and a worse educational background. When Daniel threatened Gladys not to rat him out, she obeyed. His parents don't seem like they've ever belittled someone who's different than them to their face, so they didn't teach their son to express his hatred and greed in a monstrous way, but did they teach him hate and greed. It grew inside of him, turning him into a heartless version of them. Anyway, as much as it hurts her, Alicia turns Daniel in. A gloomy story like this can have a happy ending without feeling jarring, but even with that in mind, the resolution this movie presents feels overly idealized.
7/10
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