From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Funny Dirty Little War
Funny Dirty Little War
Funny Dirty Little War Language Spanish
Funny Dirty Little War (Spanish: No habrá más penas ni ol-
vido (1983) is an Argentine film. The movie is directed
vido)
by Héctor Olivera, and the screenplay was written by
Olivera and Roberto Cossa, based on a novel of the same
name written by Osvaldo Soriano. The motion picture
was produced by Fernando Ayala and Luis O. Repetto; and
features Federico Luppi, Héctor Bidonde, Víctor Laplace,
among others.[1] The events of the comedy-drama take
place one day in 1974.
Plot
Héctor Suprino is the local Peronist political boss in the
small countryside village of Colonia Vela. He plots with
the county mayor Guglielmini and union leader Reinaldo
to get the deputy mayor Ignacio Fuentes out of power,
despite Fuentes being an avid peronist and having once
worked under Juan Domingo Perón himself.
DVD cover Fuentes is told that he has to fire his assistant Mateo
Directed by Héctor Olivera because of his Marxist sympathies. Yet, Fuentes, despite
disagreeing with Marxist ideals himself, refuses because
Produced by Fernando Ayala of his absolute stance against caving in to political pres-
Luis O. Repetto
sure. This evokes a harsh response from Suprino, who
Written by Screenplay: has the police chief intervene. Fuentes, rather than cave
Héctor Olivera in to pressure, arms himself and then barricades himself
Roberto Cossa
in the town hall along with his allies and friends; Mateo,
Story:
Osvaldo Soriano Corporal García, Juan, Rodrigo, Moyito and Crazy Ceres.
Suprino orders police intervention, which leads to
Starring Federico Luppi a massive stand-off between the local police force and
Héctor Bidonde
Víctor Laplace
Fuentes’ men. The counter-Fuentes operation, led by
Chief Llanos and Sub-Chief Rossi, initially only consists
Music by Óscar Cardozo Ocampo of attempting to threaten Fuentes into surrendering but
Cinematography Leonardo Rodríguez Solís soon evolves into a real shootout when members of the
Argentine Anticommunist Alliance, led by Rogelio Almei-
Editing by Eduardo López do, show up and intervene.
Distributed by Cinevista During the shootout with the AAA, Moyito is killed
Production Company: and several police officers are wounded, which leads to
Aries Cinematográfica a temporary ceasefire and a deadlock. Juan sneaks out
Release date(s) Argentina: through the back to look for the local crop duster pilot,
September 22, 1983 Cerviño, in order to convince him to help Fuentes by con-
Canada: ducting an aerial attack as a distraction so he can sneak
September 9, 1984 more ammo and explosives round the back.
United States:
As night falls, a group of local communist guerrilla
March 30, 1985
youths led by Matilda Gómez gather in an abandoned
Running time 80 minutes warehouse and decide to use the conflict as a means to
Country Argentina start a civil war and take over the government to turn
the country to marxism. They start out by kidnapping
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Funny Dirty Little War
Chief Llanos and hold him for a ransom of several tons of Perón about him if he ever returns, after which he dies.
explosives and weaponry. Not wanting to give more re- After burying Cerviño, Juan and García begin to head into
sources to the communists, Guglielmini abandons Llanos the countryside while discussing the many ways they
and declares Rossi the new police chief. could convince Perón to return. The song "Mie Buenos
Rossi leads a new attack on Fuentes, this time using Aires Querido" begins to play as the credits start rolling.
bulldozers as cover to advance on the town hall. Rodrigo
and Crazy Ceres are killed during this attack and Fuentes,
García and Mateo are barely saved because Cerviño ar-
Cast
rives in the nick of time and sprays pesticides all over the • Federico Luppi as Ignacio Fuentes
police with his plane, causing them to temporarily dis- • Miguel Ángel Solá as Juan
perse. • Julio de Grazia as Corporal Garcia
The guerrilla attacks the local union with a pipe • Ulises Dumont as Cerviño
bomb, killing Reinaldo, which prompts the AAA agents to • Lautaro Murúa as Mayor Guglielmini
abandon the fight against Fuentes and instead attempt to • Héctor Bidonde as Suprino
kill the guerrilla troopers. Famed local radicalist former • Rodolfo Ranni as Police Chief Llanos
senator Prudencio Gúzman attempts to negotiate with • Raul Rizzo as Sub-Chief Rossi
the communists for Llanos’ release, but the peace talks • Luis Martínez Rusconi as Rogelio Almeido
fall through and Llanos is ultimately executed. • Emilio Vidal as Reinaldo
The police regroup again and prepare for a third at- • Victor Laplace as Prudencio Gúzman
tack. In order to buy some time and distract Rossi, Mateo • Alicia Baistrocchi as Matilda Gómez
turns himself in while Fuentes, García and Juan prepare • José María Lopez as Mateo
a bomb with the explosives the latter had previously • Arturo Maly as Toto
brought in. The police attack continues and when they • Graciela Dufau as Mrs. Fuentes
enter the town hall, the bomb goes off, killing several po-
lice officers and giving Fuentes, García and Juan enough
time to escape round the back. In retaliation for the
Background
bomb, Almeido executes Mateo.
While escaping, Fuentes and García are captured and
Basis of film
taken to a local school to be tortured and imprisoned. Main article: Montoneros
Juan escapes and is eventually found by the guerrilas, The film is based on a real political events that took place
who promise to help free Fuentes and García if Juan later in Argentina in the mid 1970s. The film depicts, sub silen-
shows them where he keeps his explosives stash. tio, the struggle between the Montoneros political move-
Juan convinces Cerviño to cause one more diversion ment and the right-wing Peronist forces.
with his plane, this time dropping manure on the police The Montonero Peronist Movement (Spanish: Movi-
and while the police are distracted, Juan and Matilda bust miento Peronista Montonero) was an Argentine left-wing
García free. However, due to AAA reinforcments, Juan Peronist guerrilla group, active during the 1970s. Its mot-
and Matilda are forced to escape with García to was venceremos ("we will conquer").
alone...leaving Fuentes behind. The AAA and the commu- After Juan Perón’s return from 20 years of exile and
nists face off in a mass shootout inside the school, which the June 20, 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the de-
ends with most people on both sides dead. finitive split between left and right-wing Peronism, the
Cerviño and his plane are followed by one of the few Montoneros were expelled from the Justicialist party in
surviving AAA members, who shoots him when he lands. May 1974 by Perón. The group was almost completely
While fleeing from the shootout at the school, Matilda dismantled in 1977, during Jorge Rafael Videla’s dictator-
and the other three surviving guerrillas get blown up by ship.
Almeido, who finishes them off in a suicide bombing.
Suprino severely beats Fuentes and then Guglielmini Distribution
tries to talk him into taking the blame for the whole
ordeal. When he refuses, Guglielmini and Suprino leave Funny Dirty Little War first opened in Argentina on
while Rossi executes Fuentes. While leaving town, Supri- September 22, 1983.
no realizes Guglielmini plans to frame him for the whole The motion picture has also been featured at various
incident and runs him over with his truck before escap- film festivals including the Toronto Film Festival; the
ing the country. Berlin International Film Festival; the Cognac Festival du
When morning finally dawns, García and Juan go to Film Policier, Cognac, France; and the New York New
Cerviño’s house, where they find him wounded but still Directors/New Films Festival, New York City; and others.
alive. They tell him that Fuentes won the battle to com-
fort him and then Cerviño makes them promise to tell
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Funny Dirty Little War
Critical reception • Berlin International Film Festival: Golden Berlin
Bear; 1984.
Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times, compli-
mented both the acting, pacing, and Héctor Olivera’s di-
rectorial style, and wrote, "The film has also been so can-
References
nily paced - and is so well acted - that there’s never much [1] No habrá más penas ni olvido at the Internet Movie
time to consider larger meanings while the mayhem is Database.
going on. Though Funny Dirty Little War ends bleakly, the [2] Canby, Vincent. The New York Times, film review,
existence of the film itself - the fact that it could be made March 30, 1985. Last accessed: January 15, 2008.
at all, and with such style - is ultimately invigorating." [2] [3] "Berlinale: 1984 Prize Winners". berlinale.de.
http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/
Awards jahresarchive/1984/03_preistr_ger_1984/
03_Preistraeger_1984.html. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
Wins
• Berlin International Film Festival: Confédération
Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et Essai Juries
External links
(C.I.C.A.E.) Award; International Federation of Film • No habrá más penas ni olvido at the Internet Movie
Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize; Silver Berlin Bear, Special Database
Jury Prize; 1984.[3] • No habrá más penas ni olvido at the cinenacional.com
• Cognac Festival du Film Policier: Grand Prix; 1985. (Spanish)
Nominated
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Funny_Dirty_Little_War&oldid=451102385"
Categories:
• 1983 films
• 1980s comedy films
• Argentine films
• Black comedy films
• 1980s comedy-drama films
• Films based on novels
• Films directed by Héctor Olivera
• Independent films
• Political comedy films
• Spanish-language films
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