NAKED WITH ORANGES
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 7.0 Alternative Scale: *** out of ****
Venezuela, 1995 Running Length: 1:50 MPAA Classification: No MPAA Rating (Violence, nudity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Shown at the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, 5/2/96, 5/5/96
Cast: Lourdes Balera, Daniel Alvarado, Alexander Milic, Luis Fernandez,
Pedro Duran
Director: Luis Alberto Lamata
Screenplay: Laura Goldberg
Cinematography: Andres Agusti
Music: Francisco Cabrujas
In Spanish with subtitles
Luis Alberto Lamata's NAKED WITH ORANGES is a charming, although not overly-taxing, love story that mixes Venezuelan history with magic realism. Until the rather melodramatic conclusion, the film maintains a light, comic touch that keeps the audience involved in what is actually a rather ordinary storyline.
With the exception of a twentieth century framing tale, NAKED WITH ORANGES takes place during Venezuela's Federal Revolution, a time of war and upheaval that ravaged the country during the 1800s. We are introduced to Capitan (Daniel Alvarado), an unnamed Indian officer in the Federal Army. One day, Capitan's men discover a mute white woman (Lourdes Balera) haunting one of the houses where they stop for the night. Taking pity on the unfortunate soul, whom he calls "Little Mute", Capitan curbs the barbaric appetites of the men and allows the woman to remain unmolested. The next day, fighting breaks out, and all of Capitan's men are killed. Alone, he makes his way back to the command post, only to discover that Little Mute has followed him. His attempts to chase her away fail, and, eventually, Capitan is forced to chose between her safety and his future.
There is a magical talisman in NAKED WITH ORANGES -- something called a "bilongo." Initially unimportant, it gains significance (both concrete and symbolic) as the movie progresses. According to the script, a bilongo is a device from the Caribbean that guarantees gambling success to its owner at the price of his soul. If the bilongo isn't sold to another at a lower price than the one originally paid for it, the owner's soul will be consigned to eternal damnation. When Capitan buys the bilongo, it costs only 5 pesos. Finding someone willing to buy it for less proves virtually impossible.
At the center of NAKED WITH ORANGES is the strange, touching love affair between Capitan and Little Mute. Neither is a whole person apart from the other. Once a member of the aristocracy, she has endured such trauma that she no longer has a voice. He has been a military man since he was a boy, fighting for army after army, knowing only war and killing. In his own words, "Hell isn't going to be any uglier than... my life." Together, these two discover reasons to struggle and survive, and Capitan learns that there is beauty in a world he had previously associated with only death and horror.
NAKED WITH ORANGES mixes religious symbolism (a painting of the Virgin Mary) with the more concrete, gritty aspects of its plot. The ominous nature of the bilongo, combined with the constant threat of death, heightens the film's suspense, making some of the latter developments unpredictable (if a little soap opera-ish). Yet there is still a fair amount of effective comedy. NAKED WITH ORANGES is beautifully filmed -- some of the camera shots are literally breathtaking (especially a red-saturated scene with Capitan staring out to sea). There's nothing ground-breaking in this movie, but it does a good job presenting a different culture's perspective of universal themes.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net web: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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