Santiago 73
Rating: 8/10
Running Time: 98 minutes
UK Certificate: 15
Fifty-five year old morgue employee Mario is an unlikely romantic and hero but shocking events during the 1973 Chilean coup call him to action in the form of a love-interest. After obsessively fantasising over his cabaret-dancing neighbour Nancy, Mario is shocked when she mysteriously disappears followed by her brother and father, a prominent Communist and supporter of the deposed president. At this news, Mario is transformed and he begins a frantic search for Nancy.
Post Mortem is a wonderful film that fits so many different aspects into a comfortably concise runtime that leaves you yearning for more. The pace of the film starts off slowly but this just allows the tension and atmosphere to build until the situation blows up and?they break into hysterics and the violence begins. Surprisingly, much tension-breaking humour is used to great effect and?with admirable?realistism thanks, in part, to the understated and fine acting on show by the small cast.?Castro does a great job to project the different sides of Mario, likeable or not, and keep you guessing until the end.
One of the film’s selling points is that the context of political upheaval and state sponsored violence not only provide an interesting?backdrop to the story but also fit nicely into the drab daily life of the main protagonist before getting all too real for him. Overall, Post Mortem is a well-written, interesting, funny and disturbing film that may just have a shot at the Oscars for 2012’s best Foreign Film.
It's Got: Fine acting, dark humour and violence sitting comfortably side-by-side, an interesting context
It Needs: For you not to bed against it for a Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2012
Summary
Post Mortem uses a morgue worker, a cabaret dancer and a violent coup d’etat to prove that love and heroism is far from dead. A well-written, interesting, funny and disturbing film.