Tough-to-watch ‘Manero’ suggests dangers of retreating into fantasy

  • By Robert Horton Herald Movie Critic
  • Thursday, August 20, 2009 2:26pm
  • LifeGo-See-Do

Two-thirds of the way through “Tony Manero,” the central character goes to the box-office of the theater where he has been seeing “Saturday Night Fever” for months. He is told the film has been replaced by another one with “the same gentleman” in the cast, “Grease.”

The disappointed ticket buyer promptly takes one look at the new movie, walks upstairs to the booth and beats the projectionist to death.

“Tony Manero” is a brutal film about the darkness in a soul and the darkness in a country.

Set in Chile in 1978, well into the dictatorial regime of Augusto Pinochet, the film’s focus on one twisted individual spills over into a portrait of a poisoned society.

You might recall that Tony Manero is the name of the character John Travolta plays in “Saturday Night Fever.” Tony is the obsession of Raul (Alfredo Castro), a 50-ish lowlife in Santiago.

Raul is the aforementioned disappointed customer at the movie theater.

Impotent and violent, he stalks through his dismal life — but, as they say in the movies, he has a dream. For the week or so we’re watching him, Raul is preparing to appear on a national TV show as a Tony Manero impersonator.

This head-spinning contradiction — that this sociopathic rat will periodically break out in Travolta’s dance moves from “Saturday Night Fever” — is part of the disorienting experience of watching this film.

In fact, Raul’s stone-faced demeanor while rehearsing his routine is so horrifying it threatens to wipe away decades of joyous dance tradition in cinema. And yet, technically, his moves are good enough to give him a reasonable shot at winning the competition.

Director Pablo Larrain uses this miserable character to suggest a population that turns away from political reality in favor of fantasy; Pinochet’s military junta operates in the background of the film, so Raul does just enough to keep his own neck out of trouble and he does nothing to resist.

It’s no wonder he’s deranged.

And although this film is hard to watch at times, it’s also very difficult to shake. Never more so than in the single moment Raul breaks into a smile — one of the most disturbing sights in a movie this year.

“Tony Manero”

In Pinochet-controlled Chile of the late ’70s, a 50-ish lowlife pins his hopes on winning a TV contest to impersonate John Travolta’s character from “Saturday Night Fever.” A tough film to watch. In Spanish, with English subtitles.

Rated: No rating; probably R for nudity, violence, language

Showing: Northwest Film Forum

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