Buscando a Miguel

So I watched many films in Beijing throughout December 2008 and did not have the time to comment a few for you the readers. Retracing my blog entries and I must post a few more detailed review, not that my impressions on the films are as valued as those of Ebert and Rupert. Nevertheless, I will share before the short-term memory cascading protein complexes empty that block of RAM in my brain.

While my comments were sort of harsh regarding Colombia films at the Ciclo Colombiano last year, I must confess that Buscando a Miguel totally redeemed the Colombian film industry in front of me. It was a brilliant script and the film touched on numerous controversial social problems in its story line. A snobbish politician born with a silver spoon, a compassionate transgender drag queen with a good heart, a homeless man surviving on the street picking up cardboards, average citizens living in the slumps of Bogotá, crooks kidnapping people for their organs and many other unforgettable "characters" weave together a hellofa cliffhanger. I really do have to give the Colombian Embassy my respect for their courage and frankness to screen a film like that exposing many of their country's problem at a mini-festival in Beijing. I don't think we, the Chinese, given the same circumstances , will have that kinda self-confidence to choose a film in a cultural event. We might be making more economic progress than Colombia, but we surely could learn from their assertiveness!