Ojos Que No Ven
Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 2
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 On: 2008-04-07
This is one of the best films Ive seen. I knew just a little about the political situation (and its history) in Peru - as another reviewer has written, the movie is not centered on that, its about peoples lives (and deaths). This is a movie that stays with you a long time - some uplifting moments, some tragic, justice and injustices. I got this to practice listening to Spanish but its a very fine film in any language - really a work of art.
 On: 2007-04-09
This was a tough film for me get started. In fact I ended up restarting it twice before I made my way into it. The opening seen features two old Peruvian men lying in their hospital beds watching a television news report about a Peruvian government official snared in a video taped bribery transaction and arguing from polemic sides of the Peruvian political spectrum about the future political fallout from this story. Huh!?! Uh, what? Que?
Yeah, ok, and then from THERE the story gets a bit more complex (Oh, great). You see the news report they are watching is of an actual Peruvian historical event. It concerns a scandal which eventually resulted in the downfall of recent former El Presidente, Fujimori (Sorry, but not surprisingly, his first name escapes me.) (And yes, thats Fujimori, a man of Japanese decent who became president of Peru.)
OK, so am I going to have to get out my laptop and have Google and Wikipedia on standby just to make it though this picture? The pleasant and really quite relieving answer is actually, No. Even someone with just a puny American mind like me was able to follow the story quite easily once I finally got my head around what I was watching.
Again, if it seems to start moving a bit too fast at the onset, just start it over and it will start to sink in.
Now, Im an American, of course. And as such I, of course, have only very limited knowledge of Peruvian politics. Actually I suppose having even very limited knowledge of Peruvian politics might qualify me as a scholar on the subject in some circles. So, heres what you need to know. There was once a man named Fujimori who was president of Peru. He and some (or it seems many) of his fellow politicians and government officials were in fact crooks who gave and took all sorts of bribes and stashed away huge sums of money in Swiss bank accounts. Now this doesnt take much imagination, just sort of relate it to Watergate or Iran-Contra or The S&L scandal or that latest Brit thing; the Cash for Honors deal or whatever they call it. In any case, the action here just happens to take place in Lima, Peru.
So now that we have that out of the way, lets watch the movie! And from here on out, its really not so difficult to follow, and truthfully its a very well made film with a fascinating story to reveal. And if you have any interest in taking a peek into a distant and really somewhat unknown culture, well thats just another perk.
The best way I can think of to describe how the film is laid out is to compare it to the Watergate film, All The Presidents Men. As in that film, you have a series of actual events unfolding throughout the film which are being narrated by news bulletins coming from television sets and radios which just happen to be turned on in various scenes. However, unlike All The Presidents Men, Ojos Que No Ven (What Your Eyes Dont See) doesnt follow a couple of newsmen as they uncover the story; instead it covers the stories of several differing groups of people affected by these political events. Some in politics, some who are not. Theres a shady private lawyer with a penchant for school girls, a school girl (imagine that) who splits her time between caring for her sick grandfather, playing the flute and trying to get her father out of jail, a couple of old coots who lie in their hospital beds and argue about politics 24/7, a couple of right wing thugs, a left wing anthropologist and his wife, a suicidal Army Colonel, a newscaster obsessed with his appearence and a few more.
Some of these people interact, and some do not. The film is a fascinating slice of Peruvian life and at the same time a universally human story. You dont need to be overly concerned about completely understanding the particular political scandal being presented in order to understand and enjoy the film. In the end the film is just about people. People who are really perhaps not so different as you might imagine, even though they live in a place called Peru.
Oh yeah, and yes, there ARE English subtitles. In fact, I used them myself.
On: 2006-06-05
In 2000, secret videotapes showing the corrupt activities of Montesinos, the long-time head of Perus Intelligence Service were broadcast on Perus only independent news channel. Montesinos, who attended the U.S. School of the Americas, virtually ran Peru under its Premier Alberto Fujimora. Montesinos made literally thousands of secret videotapes of himself meeting and bribing various politicians, journalists, and television station owners, and Montesinos also supervised the secret death squad known as the Colina Group.
The film, "Ojos Que No Ven" weaves six interconnected stories against the backdrop of the tainted and troubled political scene in Peru. While ostensibly, this is not a political film, the plot illustrates the moral decay which permeates Peruvian society, and shows how a handful of Peruvian citizens are affected by the Montesinos scandal and the subsequent downfall of Fujimoras government.
When the film begins, two elderly patients in a decaying Peruvian hospital watch a television station that broadcasts the first of the Montesinos tapes. Their medical conditions enforce their stationary observations as the political scandal unfolds and the country collapses. One of the elderly men is visited by his innocent granddaughter, Mercedes (Melania Urbina). In the political fallout from the Montesinos scandal, Mercedes father is arrested, and she seeks help from the decadent, corrupt lawyer, Federico Penaflor (Gustavo Bueno).
Meanwhile, with the government in freefall, its still not clear how far investigations of various atrocities will go. Chauca (Carlos Alcantara), a petty criminal and a member of the Colina Group participates in yet another politically motivated killing, and when things go wrong, hes on the run with his girlfriend, a make-up artist who works for a self-focused newscaster, Gonzalo (Paul Vega).
In another thread, an introverted, round-shouldered minor clerk rooms with a poverty-stricken family, and he idolizes the nasty daughter from afar. The clerk is a Walter Mitty type with an inner film noir dialogue, and he seems impervious to his idols rough rejections. The clerks employment brings him into contact with the Montesinos videotapes, and ironically this contact yields an opportunity for corruption and possible success in his courtship. Paradoxically, however, its clear that the clerks opportunity for corruption and successful courtship will inevitably yield only grief.
In another connected story, an army colonel (Gianfranco Brero) who faces scandal and imprisonment contemplates suicide until he runs into the wife of a murdered man.
At 150 minutes, and with so many interconnected stories, stylistically "Ojos Que No Ven" (AKA "What the Eye Doesnt See") is reminiscent of "Magnolia"--but its a much better film. The socio-political merit of the film, however, is somewhat weakened by several elements--the character of the clerk, for example--is one of the poorer facets of the film. Nonetheless, if you like Latin cinema, and you enjoy a meaty story, "Ojos Que No Ven" from director Francisco J. Lombardi is well worth watching. In Spanish with English subtitles--displacedhuman
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