Selected for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, El Violin marks the astonishingly assured debut feature of Francisco Vargas. The decision to expand an earlier short into this almost unbearably affecting mediation on betrayal and brutality seems inspired.
Elderly Don Plutarco (Angel Tavira), his son Genaro (Gerardo Taracena) and grandson Lucio (Mario Garibaldi) are humble rural musicians who also support the armed campesina peasant guerilla movement. When the military seizes their village, the inhabitants flee, leaving ammunition behind. Playing on his appearance as a harmless violin player to secure the trust of a vain captain (Dagoberto Gama) who fancies himself as a musician, old Don Plutarco has a plan to recover the ammunition through charm and steely nerves.
For all that it is directed, written and produced by Vargas, however, El Violin is anchored on the amazing central performance of Tavira. Born in 1924, Tavira descends from a line of traditional musicians. He began playing the violin aged six, and rose to the top of his field despite losing his right hand in a tragic accident. Though involved with Vargas in the making of the documentary Tierra Caliente…, El Violin represents Tavira’s first acting role. Giving a naturalistic and subtle performance that beautifully interplays with the veteran Gama to evoke the struggle between peasants and government and between duty and pleasure, the octogenarian was rewarded with a richly deserved Best Actor prize at Cannes.
Don’t be put off by the fact that its UK release has been inexplicably delayed; this is a humanistic work that offers an intelligent and rigorously unsentimental account of oppression and resistance. It deserves to be embraced.
