La sombra del caminante

Young Ciro Guerra (he was 25 when he completed La Sombra del Caminante) brings an austere symmetry to a spare tale of two losers on the streets of Bogota, Colombia. It begins with a mysterious figure in goggles building a chair to fit on his back and carry tired people through the streets for a fee (Chair Man, Ignacio Prieto). Immediately, our interest is piqued. Who is this character? Next we encounter Mañe (Cesar Badillo) a cripple who is bullied for money by his landlord and regularly knocked down by the local yobs. One day, Mañe wakes from a beating to find he has been rescued by the Chair Man. Mañe's attempt to befriend his rescuer is the arc of the story. First, Mañe reveals the dreadful experience that crippled him; after much coming and going, he finally extracts the Chair Man's story, and it's a horror that he did not wish to know: and yet, it brings a kind of closure to Mañe, and a resolution to the film. Guerra's allegory has a classic discipline and packs a huge punch as it delves into damaged lives to reveal wider, and universal truths. I await a chance to view Guerra's second film, Los viajes del viento (2009), with impatience.