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ACTOR
Sasa AnocicGyula BodrogiAndrás FésösSergio Hernández
DIRECTOR
Ibolya Fekete
SYNOPSICS
Chico (2001) is a Spanish,Hungarian,Serbian,English movie. Ibolya Fekete has directed this movie. Sasa Anocic,Gyula Bodrogi,András Fésös,Sergio Hernández are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2001. Chico (2001) is considered one of the best War,Drama movie in India and around the world.
The adventures of a young man as he moves from the Latin-American revolutions in the sixties and seventies, through Hungary in the eighties, to the Croatian war in 1991.
Chico (2001) Trailers
Chico (2001) Reviews
Cruel movie about a cruel century
***Some Spoilers*** I gave this movie a rather high rating, but one has to be cautious when watching it. I didn't know how to write a review without referring to the story more closely, then the changing history of the 20th century plays an important role. The main character nicknamed Chico is not exactly an angel. Through his father he is raised as a true communist fighting for the world revolution. Chico is originally born in Bolivia, but is of Jewish-Hungarian-Spanish origin. During his life he acquires maybe a dozen languages and as many nationalities. It is quite painful to follow this character through many failed revolutions (Bolivia,Chile to name a few) and many failed identities (Secret Agent, Journalist, Mercenary) until he joins the Croatian army during the war against Serbia. This is the breaking point for the character and the watcher. Where the siege of Vukovar is shown with detailed cruelty. I like this movie because the main character is searching for a just cause to fight for, realising the more he takes part in the conflicts the more he looses a clear cause. He tries to take refuge in his many identities as a Jew, Christian, Hungarian, Bolivian, Journalist, Soldier but there is no redemption and no escape as to all his fights are vain. The drawback to this film is that at some points this message doesn't really come clearly out. Chico is very enthusiastic about war, speaking with terrorists like he is speaking to friends. He crosses the line between morality and amorality many times. The photography is realistic, coarse grained, sometimes a little bit cheesy looking. The scenes in Yugoslavia are nothing but terrifying. Real TV news scenes are interspersed giving the movie an even more realistic touch. To some persons maybe it seems too superficial to condense all revolutionary conflicts of the second half of the 20th century into one character, but it is well done. This movie is not for kids. For historic interested people it is a must go. But also the performance of the main character is worth the admission.
bold blur
I'm not sure a more challenging film has been made. Fekete, director of Bolshe Vita, itself a complex and difficult undertaking, went beyond what we think of as manageable material with Chico. Blurring fact and fiction, uniting a story told through 25 years in 5 nations, or almost-nations, or nations in the process of becoming, unified by the improbable story of an impossible man whose credibility lies in the fact that he is portraying himself, masterfully, honestly, fragmentarily. This is a film of genius by a filmmaker who is not satisfied unless she is on the trail of something very large, very real -- the only other filmmakers I can think of that approach this are the early Rossellini and the early Cassavetes. I would welcome further information on this director and how she managed to make this film.
Questions and Commitments and Consequences
CHICO, a two hour film that is a mixture of documentary footage, biographical exploration of an amazing young man who just happens to be the actor portraying himself, and historical drama creating a film that is as confusing, contradictory, explicitly powerful and ugly as the wars it traverses. Given the fact that the film is shot in multiple locations and in many languages (Spanish, English, Hungarian, Croatian, German, and more), it is extremely demanding of the viewer: not one minute of concentration can be spared to attain the impact of the message writer/director Ibolya Fekete spreads before us. Chico (Eduardo Rózsa Flores on whose life this film is based and who stuns with his acting skills) begins the film as a young boy living in Chile, the son of a Bolivian Catholic mother and a Hungarian Jewish father, and is caught up in the revolutions of the 1960s very much under the influence of Che Guevara's teachings. He family is Communist but Catholic (!), forced to flee Pinochet's Chile and the turnover with Allende, and though not speaking any language but Spanish, Chico goes to Europe as a young man whose goal is journalism but whose convictions embrace revolution as the means to alter the future. In his confusing role of journalist/freedom fighter he becomes intimately involved with the revolutions in Hungary, Albania, Israel, Croatia and the Balkan War with the Yugoslavian decimation of the 1990s. Throughout his travels from revolution to revolution, first as a reporter, but always ending up as a freedom fighter, we meet a huge cast of characters, a cast representing both sides of each revolution, and the lines between identities become blurred to the extent that it is impossible to identify the two sides at odds. It is here that Fekete makes his strongest statement: war is atrocious, cruel, meaningless, destructive, brutal and foolish. Chico sees it all yet continues to actively participate in the killing and the mayhem, all the while feeling the pull of his Catholicism and even his Jewish heritage bifurcating his emotional commitment. The huge cast passes in front of our eyes so quickly that few are present long enough to evaluate as actors. One exception stands out: Richie Varga plays Jimmie, a American from Chicago who steps into the final battle of the film and leaves an indelible impression with his good looks and his sensitive portrayal of a soul searching for meaning in the mess of war. Easily the star of the film is the Chico of Eduardo Rózsa Flores, a man who made it through all the changes and chances of the story and maintains the ability to transmit his puzzling life to us in a verismo manner. This is a film that is very difficult to follow, just as are the various revolutions and wars in countries that are forever changing boundaries and names. But in the end it teaches us a lot about the concept of 'why revolution' and even more about the absurdity of war. Burningly alive cinema, this film is recommended for those who need to understand our global condition from the 1960s to the present. Grady Harp
a hard movie for hard times.
Wow, loved it, a celebration of the struggle not the ideology. Wonderfully complex. Having lived through a dictatorship and having participated in a revolution I appreciate the cold reality and lack of romanticization in the film. Life is hard and definitely not romantic when you are in the trenches fighting a superiour enemy. But life is not miserable, I found the other side of war the humour, the laughter and the absurdity a bit scarce in this film. Well the absurdity did come through. I found the film complicated, like life, the way it should be. The film was never preachy, quite a feat considering the intensity with which Chico embraced life according to his principles. I liked Chico even when I didn't agree with him, the depiction of Yugoslavia and the Croatian struggle within it, was moving but very much lacking in perspective; choices are difficult when one's feet are in the fire, and perspective comes with time and distance. Yugoslavia was the real victim, the US and Germany were the real criminals, and the poor Serbians, Croatians and Bosnians were very much the pawns. Pawns that had lived peacefully and admirably until the West engineered the economic collapse of Yugoslavia. The references to Che Guevara's book "Guerrilla Warfare" which so influenced Chico's character might be completely lost in todays generation and on a North American audience. But it would be great for people to see this film and be exposed to a perspective not doctored by the corporate media and the pentagon, to get a real feeling about the complexities of war. A must see film. A great story.
"You could see only in the field who was right and when."
Some hints how to prepare for this film: To fully understand and to _really_ absorb something of "Chico" you must have as much historical, geopolitical and ideological background-knowledge as you can. Especially about Chile, South America, Allende, Pinochet, communism, fascism, Hungary before and after the '90s, ex-Yogoslavia and the liaison of it's nations, Serbs, Croats, Chetniks, Ustashas, minorities, Albania, Jerusalem etc., just to name some of the most important keywords. (If these terms are not so familiar for you and you haven't seen the film but you want, then I recommend looking after them for a while. Believe me. It will increase your satisfaction!) To make this mess more "confusing" Chico (Eduardo Rózsa Flores) speaks Spanish(Castilian), Hungarian, English, Italian, Croatian and a little bit of Russian as the story moves along. Because of that, there are almost no people who could fully understand everything without subtitles. This is very interesting and challenging. See it! If you liked "Chico", you should also check out: Machuca (2004), Rane (1998), Before the Rain (1994). These films will also improve your understanding of "Chico" and vice versa.