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123 of 126 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Film About A Little Known Crime Syndicate, October 3, 2004
This review is from: En la Puta Vida (Tricky Life) (DVD)
EN LA PUTA VIDA is a very well made, polished, intelligent film from Uruguay that begins as what seems to be a comedy and develops into a provocative drama - much the way events in life mimic such changes. Director and co-writer Beatriz Flores Silva knows her way around tough subject matter and is able to bring out sterling performances by a very fine cast.
Elisa (the very beautiful and talented Marianna Santangelo) is a hairdresser with two children, born of different fathers, who lives with her mother while trying to convince her latest paramour Garcia (Augusto Mazzarelli) to leave his wife and marry her. She dreams of having her own Salon in the rich district of Montevideo and will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. When her life falls apart and she is desperate to make enough money to open her Salon, she is invited into the world of fast money (prostitution) by her best friend Lulu (Andrea Fantoni), and enters the tutelage of Madame Dona Jacqueline (a terrific cameo by Graciela Esuder!). In her new role Elisa encounters the handsome but wily Placido (played by Silvestre) who invites her to bed and to Barcelona, Spain with promises that she will make so much money that she not only will be able to send money back to her children, but also have more than enough to open her Salon in the fanciest part of her native Montevideo. Elisa and Lulu join other prostitutes in this promise of wealth and fly to Barcelona - and unexpected white slavery. There she works her corner but is in the presence of a gang of Brazilian transvestites controlled by a mob. She is arrested by a policeman-with-heart Marcelo (the very handsome and gifted actor Jose 'aka Josep' Linuesa) and when her 'man' Placido reveals himself for what he is (a greedy, heartless pimp), Elisa works with Marcelo to uncover the mob violence of the streets to gain a return to her beloved Montevideo. How the story ends is left to the pleasure of the viewer.
Apparently this story is based on some degree of fact: in the 1980s to the present many Latin American women have been promised wealth in joining the prostitution business in Spain only to become victims of white slavery. Director Silva is able to make this rather terrifying reality into a story that, though sensual, is never in bad taste: the story is more important that portraying the sex-for-sale scenes. Mariana Santangelo is a very fine actress and this film is just the right vehicle to put her in the ranks of international stardom. The photography in both Uruguay and Spain is beautiful, the musical score is exceedingly well written and evocative, and the end result is a film that opens the door for Uruguayan films to be taken seriously. Highly recommended.
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41 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Uruguayan movie, August 7, 2004
This review is from: En la Puta Vida (Tricky Life) (DVD)
Direction, acting, music, photography, everything in this uruguayan movie works together to conform a little work of art. Beautiful and modern interpretations of Uruguayan tango as background music, very good actors and excellent photography with plenty of close-ups. I highly recommend it, regardless of whether the subject interests you. If you appreciate good cinema, go for it.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Author loved this classic movie!, January 21, 2010
This review is from: En la Puta Vida (Tricky Life) (DVD)
This is not only a very enjoyable movie to watch, but it serves to draw attention to the plight of women who are practically forced into prostitution because of not enough jobs for women, particularly in countries like Spain, Brazil, Buenos Aries, and Uruguay, and then have to endure the harrassment and corruption of politicians and law enforcement. This movie was made in 2004, and is the only full movie that
the star Mariana Santangelo has made to date for full distribution. She was just 29 years old when making this movie and is a natural for the screen that loves her. She is a woman of awesome beauty and talent who could and/or should have been a major movie actress, including in America. She gives a stellar performance as a young woman trying to provide for her two sons after her husband has run out on her. She maintains a light heartedness as she struggles to cope with her situation. She meets a man whom she thinks is a businessman but is nothing more than a user of women who manages female prostitutes in both Barcelona, Spain and Uruguay. Throughout the movie she evolves into a better and wiser woman from her experiences, and in the end finds happiness with the least likely of men, a handsome immigration investigator who helps put her back on the right path, and has fallen in love with her in the process while also enjoying taking care of her two young boys also.
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