Cinema
Valparaíso, My Love
Valparaíso, mi amor
Aldo Francia · 1969
Synopsis
In the hills of Valparaíso, a widowed father without work, a butcher, is imprisoned for the theft of a cow. His four children are left almost abandoned in the care of his partner, played by Sara Astica, who discovers she is pregnant and keeps the household going as a laundress. Left to themselves, the children face the pressure of begging, theft and prostitution, in a city that makes up both the beauty and the misery of its inhabitants, according to the journal of the Austral University of Chile.
Context
The film opened the second meetings of the continent's filmmakers on 25 October 1969, on the coast, according to Memoria Chilena. Shot in black and white, it sets the action in the Valparaíso of 1966 and denounces, according to Rebelión, a justice harsher toward the poor: the father is sentenced to five years and a day. Ian Christie ranks it among the three films shot in succession with the same camera, which made up the brief Chilean new wave; the Three Continents festival presented it under the title Valparaiso mon amour.
Who it is for
A film of an hour and a half, with a tender gaze on poverty; English and French titles attested.
Prizes and reception
The opening film of the 1969 continental meetings, directed by the paediatrician who had founded them.
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