Post Mortem [Blu-ray]

This is a Chilean film which uses the military coup of 1973 as a backdrop for a story about two people who were really not meant for each other. I couldn't work out if the relationship was a polemic device for what actually occurred during that time of violence or just a good story, on reflection I was probably getting too deep and `arty'.

Our hero Mario is a morgue assistant who writes down and types up the autopsy reports. He is single and lives opposite a cabaret Dancer, who has been laid off to get some stew inside her as she is seriously anorexic. Mario quite likes a bit of `thin' and so goes about wooing her. This involves fried egg rice, impromptu crying jags and bribery - not exactly Romeo and Juliet.

She does seem to have a number of gentleman admirers and whilst that may go with the territory of being a dancer, I don't think Mario quite likes it. Then the crackdown by the military kicks off and things start to go from messy to not very nice at all.

Because of the autopsies in this you will not be wanting to have a TV dinner whilst watching and I can't imagine a pop corn vendor selling out at any of the screenings. It is a bit close to the old bone. There is no mood music which strips it back to the essential emotions being portrayed by a brilliant cast. The period setting is great from the cars to the fashions. Mario has a hair do like a seventies boutique mannequin - marvellous. It does appear to be slow in places, but when things start to happen you will be glued to the screen. The writer and director Pablo Larrain has made a film about a period in the history of Chile that not a lot of the world knows very much about and he has done it in a visceral and unique way. The use of a morgue to tell the story of a military coup would not be everyone's most obvious choice, but as a microcosm of the time, it really works.

The ending was also a surprise which makes a refreshing change these days. This won't be to everybody's taste it is in Spanish for a start with good subtitles and it can appear frustratingly slow in places, what is often called `a slow burner', but this burns fiercely at points along the way, so you do have to bear with it. Still one of those films that has stayed with me since viewing so actually not a bad effort at all and for World Cinema fans this is on the better side of what s out there.

There are several ways to present important episodes of history in film. Very few directors do it in a direct way, presenting the facts and characters as they are or were, while others do it as a so-called "historic-novel," meaning that fictional characters are created with a real-life story as background. The second type is the most used in Hollywood, as they have to create a love story in order that they can present a real life event as the major story. The brilliant "Post Mortem" perhaps belongs to this second group, as it mixes a love story, described by some as funny or maybe dark humor, with one of the most dramatic and sad events in South American history. The result is electrifying and unforgettable.

The main character of the story is Mario (Alfredo Castro), a lonely, sad fellow who works as a transcriber at the forensic institute in Santiago, Chile, where autopsies are performed. He is truly a reserved and lonely man with no apparent opinions or ambitions. While most of his coworkers, including his boss, are in favor of the Salvador Allende's - who was the president of Chile at the time - regime, he seems to really don't care. However, for some reason he is infatuated by Nancy Puelma (Antonia Zegers), who happens to be his neighbor, and who also works as a dancer at a second rate theater. Her best days are over, and she is fired from her job. Alfredo tries to help her, even convincing her ex-boss to give her a second chance, with him agreeing to give his car away for the favor. At that time, Chile is in turmoil because the right-wing, US- sponsored Chilean military forces are trying to overthrow the Allende government. As a result of the eventual coup d'état, hundreds of bodies killed by the military begin arriving for "autopsies." At the same time, Mario agrees to hide Nancy because her family was involved with Allende's politics. He is able to maintain his cool during all these tragic events, while his coworkers are completely stressed because the military took over the forensic offices. Ultimately, Mario will face a heart-breaking challenge that will make him show what he is capable of doing for love.

As I described earlier, the love story may appear to be funny or weird, but it gives meaning to the extremely sad period in which the democratically-elected government of Salvador Allende Gossens was cruelly overthrown by Augusto Pinochet on September 11, 1973 (yes, there was another September 11). It shows, through the eyes of the forensic personnel, painful and never-to-be forgotten days, when thousands of people were murdered by the military. The most powerful scene - in fact, one of the most powerful ever in the history of film - is when Mario and his team had to perform Allende's autopsy. Director Pablo Larraín and cinematographer Sergio Armstrong magnificently captured the moment with such potency that you will never ever forget this movie -- I promise. This is one special film. (Chile/Germany/Mexico, 2010, color, 98 min).

Reviewed on October 1, 2012 by Eric Gonzales for Kino Lorber.

I get the feeling that there is something deeper here I'm not getting, and maybe my detachment from the political aspects of this film are what is serving up my coldness towards the film, but despite certain obvious draws, I just couldn't completely fall in line with this film.

Taking place in Chile, 1973, `Post Mortem' tells a strange tale of obsession. Mario transcribes autopsy reports and falls into an obsessive lust for his neighbor, an anorexic burlesque dancer who is at the end of her career. Political unrest threatens the peace in their lives, and once the military starts to crack down and make their presence more oppressive, things start to go sour, especially when Mario's crush goes missing.

The atmosphere here is pretty entrancing. You can't look away, even if nothing is happening and a lot of the time it feels as though you are watching paint dry. The lighting here is an infectious mixture of grit and rawness. The closing scene is brilliant, simply brilliant, and it is in that closing moment that my doubts about the rest of the film start to fray. Maybe I am missing something, or maybe it is just one of those films that contain a really impressive and deeply unsettling scene and nothing else.

I'm still not sure.