lime It is sea, desert and city. It is criollismo, devotion and traffic. It tastes like grilled chicken and chifa, but it smells musty. Its “donkey belly” colored sky is identifiable from the heights in an airplane and its changing streets from one district to another as well. Lima is a mixture of cultures and identities, from provincial and limeños that are reflected in its music, crafts, literature and, of course, its cinema.
When we talk about Peruvian cinema (from all the regions of Peru and not just the one made in Lima) there are not many films that come to mind and this happens because of an underlying problem from many years ago: the peruvian movies They have to go out of theaters quickly because the film distributors are pressing for economic reasons, and for this reason the national film industry has not achieved the goals that it should have met a long time ago.
With all this, it is important that the Peruvian, the people of Lima and everyone who lives in the so-called City of Kings recognizes and rediscovers the city they inhabit. To do this, what better than to see some Peruvian cinema films set in Lima, which celebrates another anniversary in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, with the aim of knowing who we really are and where we want to go as a society and a city. Then youI present 7 examples of stories that revolve around and have in the background the many Lima that live with us.
1. The gospel of the flesh (by Eduardo Mendoza, 2013)
This great film has Lima as its background (and curtain), with its deep-rooted cultural and social manifestations that are very typical of it: the Procession of the Lord of Miracles, football and piracy. Here intersect the stories of three men who seek redemption in their lives and even expect a miracle for it.
Gamarra, an undercover cop, desperately tries to save his wife from a strange and unknown disease while investigating a smuggling and piracy ring. Félix, an interprovincial bus driver, tries to be accepted into the Brotherhood of the Lord of Miracles. Narciso, for his part, does everything possible to get his underage brother out of prison before he is transferred to a prison for the elderly.
It has a great cast of national actors, very well directed by Mendoza: Giovanni Ciccia, Jimena Lindo, Lucho Cáceres, Sebastián Monteghirfo, Ismael Contreras, Aristóteles Picho, Gianfranco Brero, Ebelin Ortiz, Norma Martínez, Víctor Prada, among others.
2. Fallen from the sky (by Francisco Lombardi, 1990)
This film by (perhaps) the most important director in Peru, Francisco Lombardi, is set in Lima in 1989, a year marked by political instability, economic crisis and terrorist violence.
Here too three stories intersect, but the protagonists belong to three different generations. One of them is that of the Diez-Canseco couple, Lizandro and Cucha, an elderly couple who have lost their only son, who own several properties and are dedicated to personally collecting rent from their tenants to finish building the mausoleum of your son.
The other story is that of Humberto, a successful radio host who gives hope to people, lonely and with a deformity on his face, the result of an accident. He welcomes a depressive woman whom he calls “Veronica” into his rental apartment, who hides a great secret.
And finally, the story of a blind grandmother, who lives in a hut on the cliff, with her two grandchildren, whom she exploits and mistreats, forcing them to go to the dumps to collect food for a pig named Champion, which the elderly couple Lizandro and Cucha give him away (story based on the story Los gallinazos sin pluma by Julio Ramón Ribeyro).
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3. The lover of the liberator (by Rocío Lladó, 2014)
This film takes place in two eras: the current one and the one between the period of the Independence of Peru, in the years 1820-1821. Focused on the participation of women in historical processes and on the struggle of common people to achieve the country’s freedom, the story introduces us to Lucía, a woman who seeks to prevent the destruction of a colonial mansion.
For this reason, she begins an investigation that leads her to discover the personal diary of a Creole who lived in that house two hundred years before, Teresa Vásquez de Velasco, who, along with other civilians, fought for independence. Lucía becomes so obsessed with the diary that she begins to recognize herself in that past life.
4. City of M (by Felipe Degregori, 2000)
It is the adaptation of the novel Al final de la calle, written in 1993 by Óscar Malca, which deals with juvenile delinquency within the urban suburbs of Lima. It tells us the story of M (Santiago Magill), a boy who is unsuccessfully looking for a job in Lima, and whose girlfriend Sandra (Gianella Neyra) thinks that everything would be different if he found work.
Silvana (Vanessa Robbiano) wants to help M find a job by introducing him to a guy, but her friends Caníbal and El Gordo have decided to start a gardenia business and want M to be part of that company. While Pacho (Christian Meier) and Coyote (Pelo Madueño) want to leave the country at all costs and they want M to be part of this adventure. What will M decide to do with his life in the chaotic Lima that he had to live?
5. Lima 13 (by Fabrizio Aguilar, 2012)
Aguilar’s third film narrates the story of three generations of Limeños who are involved in a Christmas atmosphere with the belief of the end of the world, announced by the Mayan calendar for 2012.
In the film we meet Wachi (Ubaldo Huamán), a security guard in a residential neighborhood who observes the life of the residents of a four-story building, who strikes up a friendship with Trini (Élide Brero), an elderly widow (great acting job of the two) and with Tesla (Kani Hart), a teenager who has returned from abroad, who have the best New Year’s Eve parties of their lives. Will they be the last?
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6. Dark Sky (by Joel Calero, 2012)
The great Joel Calero presents us with this dark story, considered for people over 18 due to its high sexual content, which It is mainly about femicide. Toño (Lucho Cáceres, in a sample of the great actor he can be) is a textile businessman from Gamarra who begins a stormy and violent relationship with the aspiring actress Natalia (Sofía Humala), which will not end well.
They complement the leading couple: Pold Gastello, Tania Ruiz, Mariella Zanetti, Roberto Moll and Norka Ramírez. The film is a loose adaptation of Claude Chabrol’s Inferno.
7. Song without a name (by Melina León, 2019)
This first feature film by León was selected to be exhibited in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and tells us the story of a young gay journalist from Lima, Pedro Campos (Tommy Párraga), and his investigation of the mysterious disappearance of the newborn baby of the young woman from Ayacucho, Georgina Condori (Pamela Mendoza Arpi), who migrated to Lima due to terrorism. .
The tape, in beautiful black and white, takes us through the footsteps of Georgina in search of help. We see with her police stations, the Palace of Justice and the offices of a newspaper. The scene of the action is the center of Lima and its outskirts in all its splendor, with everyday situations that were experienced in times of terrorism and where migration from the countryside to the city was an everyday thing.
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