The Dancer Upstairs

This magnificent film, starring the Spanish actor Javier Bardem, is simply an unexpectedly enchanting odyssey in cinema — despite the ever looming threat of violence in the revolutionary background of Latin America. This a tour de force performance both for Bardem, as the main protagonist, and for John Malkovich for his impressive Directorial Debut. What a marvelous accomplishment for them both! The film is carefully sculpted from the novel of the same name by Nicholas Shakespeare, a British writer caught in Peru at the time of the explosion of terrorism and violence brought about by the Shining Path guerrillas in the 1980s. Shakespeare, not only lived through the madness but also actively sought the guerrillas themselves to understand their aims. Well deserving of his labors, he ended up writing the historic novel on his perilous experience, as well as penning the screenplay for this suspenseful movie. All of this is explained in the extra documentaries in the DVD. And never was this background documentary material most welcome by an audience!The film is based on the sanguinary career of "Comrade Gonzalo," the terrorist Professor of Philosophy, Abimael Guzman, who formed and led the Shining Path (Sendero Luminosa) Maoist guerrilla, one of the most sanguinary and notoriously violent terrorist groups, ever to seek anarchy and revolution through terror in Latin American history. The Shining Path indiscriminately killed public officials, as well as civilians in the town and native Peruvian Indians in rural areas. These poor Indians in remote areas only desired to be left alone, to till the soil and harvest their fields, refusing to join Gonzalo's (in the movie he is called "El Presidente Ezequiel") band of terrorists. Their aim was anarchy and violent revolution in the style of Mao Tse-tung, and they came close to winning, that is until President Alberto Fujimori (who is not in the film)empowered the military and appointed an investigative task force that sought and eventually found Gonzalo. The terrorist was hiding in the upstair apartment of a ballet dance teacher (who in real life was a communist agent trained in Cuba). The lawyer-turned policeman, Agustin Rejas (played by Bardem) doggedly pursuits Ezequiel but then falls in love with the dancer. He is torn between his duty to his country and his secret love for the ballet dancer he wants to believe is innocent. The movie even recreates the famous photograph of Abimael Guzman after his capture in his striped black and white prisoner outfit uniform secured in his cage as a wild man, being presented to the public and the media, held up in a crane presumably for his voyage to a high security prison (Sept. 24, 1992).This is not a fast paced thriller, as American audiences are wont to watch, but a thoughtfully artistic film, thoroughly suspenseful by its own intrinsic pace, a pace carefully crafted by Malkovich to be savored slowly with gusto and finesse to the very end. This film is highly recommended with a 5 stars rating.The reviewer Dr. Miguel Faria is a medical historian, and an Associate Editor in Chief and World Affairs Editor of Surgical Neurology International (SNI). He is the author of Cuba in Revolution -- Escape From a Lost Paradise (2002), and numerous articles on political history, including "Stalin's Mysterious Death" (2011); "Stalin, Communists and Fatal Statistics" (2011); "the Political Spectrum -- From the Extreme Right and Anarchism to the Extreme Left and Communism" (2011)

This is a film about a left-wing insurgency against a right-wing South American government.The protagonist is a police detective who detects a pattern suggesting that an undeclared insurgency exists, and is tasked with finding its leader.Unfortunately, the government cannot leave well enough alone, but constantly interferes by declaring Martial Law and having the military immediately seize anything he discovers.The film itself uses English for the Spanish parts; unfortunately, rather a lot of it is in Quechua with no subtitles. Whether this is an artistic decision, or whether there were subtitles in the Spanish version (if there was one) but not the English version, or whether subtitles were supposed to be present but were somehow omitted, is unknown. What /is/ known is that it makes the film harder to follow than it otherwise would be.There also isn't a whole lot of suspense.

Selecting closed caption for English language for the hard of hearing worked just fine. But closed caption in Spanish when Spanish is spoken doesn't translate well for non-speaker of the Spanish language. And no caption at all for an unknown local language spoken during the movie is just plain stupid. The viewers missed a great deal of dialog when English translation of foreign languages was not used to appreciate the full impact of the movie's theme & purpose. And hand written notes not translated to English also detracted from a better appreciation of the movie. But most of all, I rented the movie expecting all the above to not be an issue, given the fact closed caption & translation of foreign dialog for American audiences can be a great help in appreciating and enjoying the full import of a movie by the paying customer.

I found this movie riveting, primarily because of the sensitive and unbelievably graceful performance by Javier Bardem as Agustin Rejas, the policeman whose job it is to capture the mysterious guerilla leader Ezequiel. I felt the political commentary almost became secondary, because Bardem captures the screen with his beautiful, expressive face. His concentration on his job, his patience with his shallow wife, his love for his daughter..... all emotions are eloquently displayed, needing little dialogue. When he does speak, his voice is soft and powerful. Bardem lends a certain nobility to this role, and he really becomes Agustin.His desire for the ballet teacher is palpable, yet he doesn't rush and is excruciatingly hesitant and tender, waiting for a response from her.I thought Malkovich did a pretty good job directing his first film, although sometimes the violence was a little gratuitous, and I was bothered by the "scene switching" that goes on occasionally. If a viewer wasn't "up" on the politics of the time, it could be very confusing. Interesting locations in Equador and Peru. I'm kind of surprised that this film was in English, as almost all the actors are Spanish speaking . Bardem rises to the occasion with really fluent English with a charming Spanish accent. The wonderful Nina Simone song at the end leaves a lasting impression. A thoughtful movie really worth seeing!

Alas, as a directorial debut for multi-talented actor John Malkovich, "The Dancer Upstairs" deserves recognition as a solid and idiosyncratic work in and of itself, albeit having somewhat flimsy points towards the last quarter.The story is set in recent past in an unnamed Latin American country where Agustin Rejas, a decent, idealistic yet depressive cop, is torn apart between two chaotic worlds. The former is physical one where morally and politically corrupt, thoroughly rotten society is under the imminent threat of revolution by a fanatical Maoist underground organization led by an enigmatic leader named Ezequiel. His minions unleash terror and inflict chaos through violent political assassinations, sabotages, child suicide bombers, unexplained blackouts and even macabre propogandas by hanging hundreds of dead dogs on the lampposts as warning signs. On the flip side, the political corruption is so pandemic that it's unclear whether the legitimate government, a fascist dictatorship indeed, is more trustworthy and less murderous than bloodthirsty rebels. Aiming for as realistic and non-Hollywood approach as possible, Malkovich did a brilliant job at capturing the mood of a city on the brink of crumbling to pieces.On the other hand, the film's emotional subtext comes from another environment in that the other source of conflict is the interior world of Rejas. He's trapped between his overly shallow wife and attractive ballet teacher. I must say that the political dimension works very well but this emotional part and the "high tragedy" mode is the weakest part of the film, and unfortunately it adds a touch of uncredibility to the plot. Their relationship is somewhat forced and half-baked at times which undermines the believability of Rejas' actions on her behalf. Another problem is that there are lots of (im)proper coincidences leading to the capture of Ezequiel. This creates another credibility issue too.Overall, "The Dancer Upstairs" is a decent political thriller (yet falling short of being a classic), a genre made popular by directors such as Costa-Gavras, Alan J. Pakula and John Frankenheimer in the late 1960s and 70s. Javier Bardem's performance in the central role is the glue that holds the movie together. If you like movies with slow beginnings and fast endings, it's probably worth the investment. (3.5/5.0)

The misleading title ...... keeps you wondering until the end who might be the "baddy" - the mysterious guerilla leader who causes a bloody revolution. Great performances by Javier Bardem as a sympathetic policeman and Laura Morante as a dance teacher/dancer. John Malkovich's direction leaves nothing to be desired ... dark atmosphers to soft lights to harsh sunlit scenes. Everyday life, romance, violence and mystery ... this movie has it all.

An interesting choice for our Film Club which gave us a fair bit of discussion. Bardem is excellent as usual. A political thriller that was a bit difficult to follow at times but a good choice.on Set-Up - choose English and then under subtitles, choose English again - this will enable english subtitles when the speech is in Spanish.

This is one will will stay in the mind as a film that stands out from the rest. Javier Bardem is brilliant as usual. The movie can take a little while to get into but is well worth sticking with. Its a serious film that engrosses you as you become involved as you gradually start to understand what is going on. For anyone who enjoys a good drama as opposed to wham bang Hollywood crap, this is very engrossing and leaves you thinking about it. There is sensitive direction here and a certain sensuality that has a dynamic effect.

complicated story, emotional and unusual. very different from the usual Hollywood stuff. X. Bardem is very serious about his job and does not quite give in to romance either. you will enjoy it, it's quite a thriller.