Prison in the Andes 2024
Sinopsis
Brutal torturers of Pinochet’s dictatorship are serving sentence in a luxury prison at the foot of the Andes. Fearing of transferring to a regular jail, the officers will go to great lengths to stay fury and violence in the mountains.
Cast
- Hugo Medina as Manuel Contreras.
- Bastián Bodenhöfer as Miguel Krassnoff.
- Alejandro Trejo as Odlanier Mena.
- Mauricio Pesutic as Marcelo Moren Brito.
- Óscar Hernández as Pedro Espinoza.
- Daniel Alcaíno as Alcaide.
- Andrew Bargsted as Navarrete.
- Juan Carlos Maldonado as Galdames.
Review
Special effects, production design, dialogue and even sound may be cornerstones of the film industry, but they were all additions to cinema at some point.
There is one element that has been there from the start, however. Ever since the first 16 seconds of its existence in “The Horse in Motion,” light has been the key to making the movies work. It is a shame, therefore, that modern movies so frequently forget how atmospheric and beautiful lighting can be when put to film.
I had high expectations walking into Felipe Carmona’s “Prison in the Andes,” a film detailing the coddled lives led by the prisoners who once served as the right-hand men of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. One thing that I did not expect to be such a major factor of the film’s quality was the lighting. The majority of the film is shot in the titular prison, with the actual Andes only serving as the faintest backdrop to the occasional outdoor scene.
In retrospect, the sky barely makes an appearance in the film, as the roofs and tree branches above obscure any trace of it. This creates a feeling of subtle confinement, which is fitting, as it is set in a prison, after all. The only evidence that a sky even exists is the milky light streaming through the windows, making silhouettes of the characters on screen. It is a reminder that freedom exists, it just cannot be seen.
Of course, the most immediately apparent use of light in the film is seen in the woods. Many of the scenes set in this location use a thick, syrupy amber light which engulfs half of the characters’ faces, while a cold, icy blue illuminates their other side. This contrast is undoubtedly deliberate, creating an atmosphere just as divided against itself as the characters of the film.
