# Men with Guns (1997/II)

### reviewed by
James Berardinelli

    MEN WITH GUNS

    A Film Review by James Berardinelli

    RATING: ***1/2 OUT OF ****

    United States, 1998
    U.S. Release Date: 3/6/98 (limited)
    Running Length: 2:08
    MPAA Classification: R (Profanity, violence)
    Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Cast: Federico Luppi, Dan Rivera Gonzalez, Damian Delgado, Tania Cruz, Damian Alcazar, Mandy Patinkin, Kathryn Grody Director: John Sayles Producers: Maggie Renzi, R. Paul Miller Screenplay: John Sayles Cinematography: Slawomir Idziak Music: Mason Daring U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics In Spanish with subtitles

John Sayles is arguably the most ambitious American independent film maker working today. His films -- those that he writes, directs, and edits -- are made entirely outside of the studio system. Sayles fashions them on his own, because he demands the right of final cut. Only when a film is done does he seek out a distributor. During his 18- year career behind the camera, he has always been a maverick. While most other directors make a few successful indie pictures, then sign a deal with a studio, Sayles continues to work as he always has, using the proceeds from the artistically limited screenplays he pens for the Hollywood behemoths (PIRANHA and CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR have Sayles scripts) to fund his more personal work.

Sayles broke onto the scene in 1980 with his directorial debut, RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS SEVEN, the movie that inspired the better-known THE BIG CHILL. His films since then have been remarkably diverse, from the lesbian drama, LIANNA, to the comic fantasy, THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET, to the baseball movie, EIGHT MEN OUT, to the Scottish fairy tale, THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH, to the magnificently-textured LONE STAR. Now, two years after his most critically-acclaimed effort to date, Sayles is ready to release MEN WITH GUNS, a film that breaks new ground (again). Not only was this Central American-based tale filmed entirely outside of the United States, but the final script (after being translated from the English version that Sayles wrote) was in Spanish.

While perhaps not as masterful as LONE STAR, MEN WITH GUNS is nevertheless a very good film. It stars Argentinean actor Federico Luppi (CRONOS) as Dr. Fuentes, an aging medical practitioner in an unnamed Central American country. With retirement upon him, Fuentes is determined that some part of his teaching will outlast him. He believes that his legacy lies in the contribution he made to a project that trained young men and women to be doctors before sending them out as "ambassadors of health" to remote Indian villages. It has been years since Fuentes has heard from any of his former students, and he decides to take a trip out of the city to look for a few of them. The deeper he gets into the wilderness, the more horrified he becomes by what he finds in different Indian villages. Poverty and lawlessness are the chief characteristics of life. Fear lies heavily in the air. Politics are meaningless. To the common farmer eking out a living, there's no difference between guerrillas and soldiers -- they're all men with guns who steal and kill.

Along the way, Fuentes assembles an unusual group of traveling companions. The first to join him is an orphaned young boy (Dan Rivera Gonzalez), who knows the way of the back roads that the doctor must traverse. The next member of the group is a solider who has deserted (Damian Delgado) and whose prized possession, a revolver, has no bullets. Later, the band is enlarged by a priest who has lost his faith (Damian Alcazar) and a mute woman (Tania Cruz) who is in search of solace.

One of the most vociferous arguments to develop against MEN WITH GUNS focuses on the setting. Sayles has placed all of the action in a fictitious Latin American country, declining to indict any particular government for the travesties that are shown (guerrillas killing men for helping soldiers; soldiers killing men for helping guerrillas). And, while there is a legitimate argument for "naming names", Sayles' point is that the themes and issues he addresses are universal in nature, and that there's no reason to pin down a specific country. These kinds of human rights abuses have happened throughout history and are still taking place all across the world wherever oppressors with superior technology use their position of strength to dispossess and suppress the indigenous population.

Sayles presents MEN WITH GUNS from Fuentes' perspective -- the doctor represents the audience. At first, he is cocooned by ignorance, but the further he proceeds from civilization, the more he realizes how frail his legacy is. His vaunted program has failed because of his own hubris. Fuentes believed he was preparing men and women to face the real challenges of the wilderness, but his lessons proved to be woefully inadequate. At one point, a former student says to him, "You're the most learned man I've ever met, but also the most ignorant." Our eyes are opened along with Fuentes'. As he learns, so do we.

Each of Fuentes' companions has a story. The boy has lived with poverty and death his entire life. He has learned to endure hunger, because no one in his village has much to eat. He is blasé about murder and torture -- those are common aspects of his day-to-day existence. The deserter starts out by robbing Fuentes, but fate conspires to put his life in the doctor's hands. Sayles gradually peels back the layers of his personality until we discover the real reason why he left the army. The priest, like Fuentes, has lost his faith as a result of being in the wilderness. He has seen and learned things that have reduced his doctrines to meaningless words. And the mute woman, who has not spoken since she was raped two years ago, needs to find a reason to live.

It is a credit to Sayles that he creates five vivid, three- dimensional characters in two hours. In actuality, the film runs a little long (this often happens when a director edits his own material, since he can be reluctant to cut certain potentially unnecessary scenes). The performances are all good, and, although the acting in many Spanish-language films tends towards over-the-top melodrama, Sayles keeps his actors focused so that their work is relatively low-key. Two Americans, Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody, have small-but-important parts. Their characters serve a dual purpose -- to provide much-needed comic relief and to illustrate how it's possible to be focused on the past but oblivious to the present.

Reduced to broad generalizations, MEN WITH GUNS is an adventure story -- a sort of DON QUIXOTE meets HEARTS OF DARKNESS. What marks this film as special isn't just that the surface details are believable, but that there is great richness and breadth to the issues addressed within. Where does innocence end and ignorance begin? How much responsibility do we bear for circumstances when we hide from them? And, if we learn the truth, how do we respond when all roads lead to desperation, futility, and failure? While MEN WITH GUNS ends on an artificially uplifting note, the prevailing tone is one of bleak hopelessness. This is a thought-provoking motion picture that, like many of Sayles' other efforts, demands that we ponder complex questions.

    Copyright 1998 James Berardinelli

    - James Berardinelli
    e-mail: berardin@mail.cybernex.net

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