The Focus Pull Film Journal The Focus Pull Film Journal
The Focus Pull Film Journal The Focus Pull Film Journal
  • Full Issues 
  • Reviews 
  • Features 
  • OUR TEAM
  • Info.
    • OUR TEAM
  • Content
    • Full Issues 
      • Issue #01
      • Issue #02
      • Issue #03
      • Issue #04
      • Issue #05
      • Issue #06
      • Issue #07
      • Issue #08
      • Issue #09
      • Issue #10
      • Issue #11
      • Issue #12
      • Issue #13
      • Issue #14
      • Issue #15
      • Issue #16
      • Issue #17
      • Issue #18
      • Issue #19
      • Issue #20
      • Issue #21
      • Issue #22
      • Issue #23
      • Issue #24
      • Issue #25 - Horror Week
      • Issue #26
      • Issue #27
      • Issue #28
      • Issue #29
      • Issue #30
      • Issue #31
      • Issue #32
      • Issue #33
      • Issue #34
      • Issue #35
      • Issue #36
      • Issue #37
      • Issue #38
      • Issue #39
      • Issue #40
    • Reviews 
      • (All Reviews)
      • Action Adventure
      • Animation
      • Biography/History
      • Comedy
      • Crime
      • Documentary
      • Drama
      • Foreign
      • Horror
      • Romance
      • Sci-Fi
      • Thriller
    • Features 
      • (All Features)
      • Bonding with Bond
      • Double Exposures
      • Essays
      • Event Coverage
      • Lists
      • New to Netflix
      • News
      • Retrospectives
    • OUR TEAM
REGISTER
@
LOGIN
Features
2
0
previous article
Review: '71
next article
SNL40: A Look Back at 40 Years of SNL in Film

Berlinale 2015: Violencia

by Maximilien Luc Proctor on February 23, 2015

Consisting of 78 minutes, 3 vaguely connected stories, and only 57 shots, Violencia is a strong debut, posing difficult questions and offering roughly zero answers. Not as consistently or directly about violence as its title might suggest, its three stories are all still connected by brief but life-changing instances of violence all highlighting corruption and kidnapping problems in Colombia.

The first third of Violencia follows one day in the life of a kidnapped man, led through the Amazon rainforest in handcuffs and a neck cuff by his captors. The second part follows a high schooler seeking employment, and the third follows a military man from his domestic life to a brutal workplace and back. Each character is given very few lines to speak, yet the acting of all three leads (Rodrigo Vélez,
David Aldana and Nelson Camayo) is profoundly communicative. Void of a non-diegetic soundtrack, careful attention is paid to every drop of rain and every crushing of gravel in the film’s sound design.

As suggested by its grand total of 57 shots, there are a significant number of long takes. Many shots seem somehow simultaneously very concise and meandering. They are shots which transmit a great deal of relevant background information marauding under the guise of useless excess. Every single shot in the film communicates at least one specific detail relating to character details or the grander themes which transcend the individual stories and connect the film as a whole. However, since these details are not highlighted on a macro level, it mostly comes across as unorganized albeit calm chaos.

Ultimately composed of quiet scenes simmering with the promises of violence unfulfilled, Violencia’‘s “raison d’être” is to bring a multifaceted discourse on understanding large, indirect, cultural causes of violence to the table. It’s up to us to dig in.

Return to Our Berlinale 2015 Coverage
Language

Spanish

Runtime

1 hour, 18 minutes

Director

Jorge Forero

Cast

Rodrigo Vélez, David Aldana, Nelson Camayo

Features, Issue #38
Berlinale 2015Jorge ForeroViolencia
Berlinale 2015, Jorge Forero, Violencia
About the Author
Maximilien Luc Proctor
Maximilien Luc Proctor
Maximilien Luc Proctor graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Film and Media Studies at the University of Oklahoma. In his spare time he plays guitar and sings in a band, as well as watching and making films however and whenever possible – as a one-man-production-team making avant-garde shorts or as a director of a small-scale independent feature productions. He likes what he sees in cinema and wants to celebrate the good stuff whenever possible.
You might also like
Berlinale 2015
 

Every Thing Will Be Fine 3D Review

by Maximilien Luc Proctor on August 30, 2015
The latest from New German Cinema director Wim Wenders, Every Thing Will Be Fine is a film which walks an unbelievably dangerous line between ‘outright bad’ and ‘self-consciously analytical.’ A dangerous line walked on a tightrope a hundred feet in the air, and in 3D, no less. After a string of documentaries, Wenders has finally returned to […]
 
berlinale 2015 victoria

Victoria: 1 Take, 140 Minutes

by Maximilien Luc Proctor on August 30, 2015
Victoria's two-and-a-half hour long-take lets you vicariously live a night of criminal activity, but ends up being more like a theme park ride than a great film.
 

Berlinale 2015: Eisenstein in Guanajuato

by Maximilien Luc Proctor on February 27, 2015
A triumphant return from the annals of obscure near-incomprehensibility for director Peter Greenaway, but still rife with his trademark challenges like nudity, philosophical conversations, and vomit, Eisenstein in Guanajuato is an intellectual treat if you can handle the meat.
 
Sworn Virgin Berlinale 2015

Berlinale 2015: Sworn Virgin

by Maximilien Luc Proctor on February 26, 2015
Growing up is never the easiest thing in the world. Growing up a girl can prove especially difficult in certain parts of the world. In Sworn Virgin, that particular part of the world is Albania, and growing up means a struggle to make sense of traditional gender roles. A tale of two sisters, the film […]
Comments
Leave a reply
Add Comment Register



Leave a Response
Cancel reply

The Focus Pull in your inbox!

Subscribe to this list, and we'll send you each week's new issue directly to your inbox. One email a week, packed with essential film writing!

Latest Reviews

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks: The 16 Best Films of 2016
 
Form and Function in Alex Ross Perry’s “Queen of Earth&...
 
Digging for Fire and Unexpected: Husband and Wife Process Parenthoo...
 
Every Thing Will Be Fine 3D Review

Latest Features

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks – The 17 Best Films of 2017
 
Taylor Sinople Picks: The 16 Best Films of 2016
 
Taylor Sinople’s Top 10 Films of 2015: “The Duke of Bur...
 
8 Films to See at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival

Our Partners

Advertisement

FESTIVAL COVERAGE

View All
 
8 Films to See at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival
 
Every Thing Will Be Fine 3D Review
 
Berlinale 2015: Eisenstein in Guanajuato
 
Berlinale 2015: Sworn Virgin
 
Berlinale 2015: Under Electric Clouds

LISTS

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks – The 17 Best Films of 2017
 
SNL40: A Look Back at 40 Years of SNL in Film
 
Six Must-See British Films Opening in 2015
 
Oscars 2015: Ranking the Best Picture Nominees
 
Our 26 Most Anticipated Films of 2015
Tweets by @thefocuspull
  • "Popcorn - check. Soda - check...I have a date with Netflix on Friday night." - Sherry
  • "[…] nails it.” I disagree, and frankly wonder what movies John is talking about. The original G..." - Dear Godzilla Fans: Please Stop Defending that ...
  • "[…] www.thefocuspull.com […]" - Annie Hall
  • "[…] more vibrant monologue or confrontation, like the dinner scene that comes at just the right time ..." - Taylor Sinople's Top 10 Films of 2015
  • "[…] of the year is also the stuff of a best picture winner. With Michael Keaton, hot off praise from ..." - Taylor Sinople's Top 10 Films of 2015
TRENDING ON TFP
   
Try a different filter
© 2014 THE FOCUS PULL FILM JOURNAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.