‘El Visitante’ (The Visitor- 2022) by director Martín Boulocq.

This film has been awarded 3 wins and 3 nominations for Best Film and Best Screenplay, but surprisingly. none for Enrique Aráoz's excellent debut performance.
by Corina J Poore
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El Visitante 2022 1

Svet Mena as Aleida and Enrique Aráoz as Humberto

Humberto Guamán Vilca (Enrique Aráoz) has spent 4 years in prison for an unknown offence.  When he’s released, he’s obsessed with regaining custody of his beloved daughter Aleida (Svet Mena) who is, literally, in the clutches of her Evangelical pastor grandfather and his wife, who are equally obsessed with not ever allowing this to take place.  The film expresses Martín Boulocq’s main area of interest, which lies in family dilemmas and relationships: -

” A common thread through my films is an exploration of filial and parental relationships through characters that face adverse social situations. This has been an endeavour built from my standing interests in understanding how social conditions affect emotional bonds.”

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Humberto played by Enrique Aráoz

An alumnus of the Jorge Sanjinés Andean School of Cinematography, Boulocq released his first (Award winning) film at the age of 25, “The most Beautiful of my Best Years” (2005- Lo más Bonito, y mis mejores años). It garnered 5 wins.  It deals with the conflicted emotions of a young, introverted man who decides to sell his most treasured possession to start a new life abroad.  In ‘El Visitante’, the protagonist Humberto, also feels he has the odds stacked against him and feels powerless to achieve what he wants. 

Humberto is trapped by his own earlier failings that sent him to prison, (we never get to know what happened?  Was it linked to alcoholism, and/ or in some way, to the mysterious death of his clearly much-loved wife?  It seems a bit of a cop-out to leave the viewer guessing, especially as the ending does not suggest a possible resolution.  It has been said that there is an element of redemption, but he never seems to get the chance.  Above all else, Humberto is driven by the desire to regain custody of his daughter. He tries to find ways to make money by selling cell-phone cards, so he can afford to care for her, but his plans go awry and he ends up making things worse. His hopes are dashed again and again, and he is humiliated in the church service as the extremist pastor, (and father-in-law) Carlos tries to exorcise ‘Satan and his demons’ from him.

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The pastor and his wife live very comfortably, unlike their congregation, in a fancy house in a gated community overlooking the city.  Living ‘above it’ physically and emotionally, with no sympathy for his son-in-law who wishes to have proper access to his daughter. Humberto’s efforts only result in an injunction to not go closer than 100 feet from her. So, isolated, he is doomed to watch his daughter fall under the influence of the demon haters who appear to dupe their congregation into believing in miracles.

 Humberto touts for sales

Aráoz has a strong screen presence and gives an outstanding performance. He elicits a certain amount of sympathy, but the gaps in the story leave one wanting, and in the end affects the engagement with the characters.  Technically the film is beautifully shot. There are night scenes that manage to capture the atmosphere of the city, with subtle lighting. This is also the case in the church service scenes and funeral, where Humberto reveals his talent for operatic singing.  Although his musical talents are to the church’s advantage, Humberto is reminded coldly that they paid for his operatic studies and therefore ‘owes’ them.  Emotional blackmail abounds.

These contemporary Bolivian films are very refreshing. It is good to see Bolivian productions that are not too deeply immersed in the need to convey messages to the viewer as has been the case in many earlier films. These are studies of human situations that can reach everyone, as they touch on universal themes.

The cycle of Bolivian films, forming the ‘Echoes & Horizons of Contemporary Bolivian Cinema’ are being screened at The Garden Cinema

39-41 Parker Street, London WC2B 5PQ / From January 10th – February 21st 2025.

El Visitante (2022)

Director: Martín Boulocq / Screenwriters: Martín Boulocq & Rodrigo Hasbún / Producers: Andrea Camponovo, Álvaro Olmos Torrico / Hernán Musaluppi, Santiago López, Diego Robino  / DOP German Nocella  / Art Director: Andrea Camponovo / Editors: Irene Cajías and Martin Boulecq / Sound: Federico Moreira.

Cast: Enrique Aráoz as Humberto/ César Troncoso  as  Pastor Carlos/ Mirella Pascual as Elizabeth/ Svet Mena as Aleida/

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