FilmCriticLalitRao
Recommended by a journalist from a communist country during a film festival I had some initial hesitation regarding watching this film. However after having seen this highly artistic film,I am ready to say that it is one of the most original films made in recent times.I find it difficult to swallow the comparison made with US film "Taxi Driver". By making such a weird comparison people are belittling this film.My favorite moments from this film are the confrontation scenes. They bear testimony to the fact that a person besieged with problems has to fight ferociously to overcome all troubles. Some of the sequences had a dream like air to them.To a layman the title of the film "Days of Santiago" suggests how he passes his days.But to a serious film goer it denotes the entire past,present and future life of Santiago. Peruvian actor Pietro Sibylle is a great attraction of this film. The troublesome feelings of anger,hopelessness, frustration, anxiety and despair are much too visible on his woebegone face.A truly valid reason to watch this film.
jotix100
"Dias de Santiago" is a disturbing film. We are taken by its creator, Josue Mendez, to the mean streets of Lima to follow a young man that works as a driver of a taxi. Santiago's home life is not exactly a happy one. The mother is a long suffering woman who doesn't do anything to rebel against her husband and what life has given her. Santiago, we learn, joined the army at an early age. His tour of duty is over, so he came back to Lima, where he is not prepared to experience his new reality. While Santiago stayed basically a good guy, most of his former colleagues have turned to crime because the atmosphere they found once out of fighting the war with Ecuador.The director, Josue Mendez, uses a mixture of black and white with color photography to emphasize what is going on in Santiago's mind as he faces different moments in his life. Mr. Mendez got an amazing performance from Pietro Sibille, who makes Santiago real throughout the film. This young actor, who seems to be a non professional is a natural and surprises us by the range he displays in the film. Mr. Sibille is the main reason for watching this film that shows the underside of a society where it seems no hope exists.
colinolmstead
I just saw this on HBO in the US tonight. this film grabs you and pulls you along. the cinematography is competent and in no way flashy. but you feel like you are there. you can really empathize with the main character Santiago. this film simply rings true in all its aspects. this is one of the best movies I have seen in years. I don't know much about the actor who portrays Santiago (whether is very brilliant or brilliantly typecast) because I have not seen him in anything else. his performance in this movie was just excellent. frankly there were no weak performances from my perspective. Sounds like I really loved this movie doesn't it? I did.PS: this will quickly be dated but if you are hooked up to adelphia/comcast cable in the US they are listing this movie inexplicably/erroneously as "a day without Mexicans"
crodriguezlarrain
Dias de Santiago is the opera prima of a Peruvian director that with very low budget managed to tell the stressful story of Santiago. It is a strong movie... I think that people that like independent movies will love this one.The plot: Santiago is a 23 year old retire marine that returns to Lima after 3 years from fighting in the Peruvian jungle against drug traffic, terrorism and a conflict with neighbor country, Ecuador. Although Santiago was constantly attacked by guilty feelings of the abuses committed by the Peruvian Armed Forces while he was in service (women, children and old people were assassinated with no apparent cause; young women were rapped by members of the armed force; under-the-table negotiations were made with drug mobs, etc.) he was proud of who he was back then. Back in Lima, Peru's centralized capital, things are very different. This chaotic concrete jungle has its own rules, mostly unwritten ones. Santiago is obsessed in trying to decipher the codes, but he fails because his family and friends don't live the structured way of the army.
AD
