A propos de America
导演：Luis Cuenca Castro|
主演：Diego Allione|
年份：(2006)
"A Propos __ America" is a visual approach to American -and therefore- the world's contemporary history covering the post 9/11 years up to the Katrina's disaster in Louisiana. It contains four short films and an introduction, all of them independent from each other in terms of structure, themes and motifs. Together, they form a cohesive piece, showing the American reality at the beginning of the third millennium. The introduction is a collage of interviews, where the confusion that reigns now in the country is manifested. The first film is a ride through the streets of Los Angeles which uncover, from a driver's P.O.V., the two sides of the city: the bright one, the one seen in almost every single Hollywood movie; and the dark one, the one that's almost never shown. As a whole, it illustrates the huge gap that still exists in American society. The second one is a walk trough the streets of New York and captures the tremendous power the city exerts on its inhabitants, as well as the unconditional love that almost all New Yorkers feel for their city-no matter their race, economic status or attitude towards life. It also shows the eerie energy felt in NYC after the 9/11 attack, which made people feel that something had changed the city forever. As a whole, it reveals the scar Americans will carry within them since those tragic events. The third piece, shot in Miami over a period of than more than two years, shows where and how Americans go when they want to have fun. We see how Americans interact, how they show themselves off and check each other out. We almost feel as if we were in a Latin American city when the film focuses on the Latin Quarter-which could be any part of the city. There, we see how Latinos (most of them American citizens) let loose with abandon and without inhibitions, not caring too much about how they may look and feel. I like this piece very much, mainly because it is homage to the city that adopted me more than three years ago. In a way, it shows how Americans, sometimes more often that not, feel like foreigners in their own country "An Epilogue", the last short movie, focuses on the most prevalent icon that appears in all the films and in American society: the stars and stripes flag, which unifies, for better or worse, all of the United States. The power of "À Propos de America", in my opinion, lies in its authenticity. The footage was stolen from real life, and with the skillful use of cinema techniques, has been assembled in a unique way that even for me, the director, is remarkably moving. Frankly, even with a Hollywood budget, I wouldn't have been able to reproduce this material. Life can be imitated but not repeated; and in this case, life isn't imitated. It just simply is. e96 Written by Cuenca Castro, Luis
