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The Wandering Shadows
Directed by Ciro Guerra
:. Starring: Lowin Allende, César Badillo, Julián Díaz
:. Script: Ciro Guerra
:. Original Title: La Sombra del Caminante
:. Running Time: 1:30
:. Country: Colombia
:. Year: 2005
:. Official Site: The Wandering Shadows
A poetic and cruel fable testing the limits of friendship, Ciro Guerra's La Sombra del Caminante is the poignant debut from a filmmaker whose cinema is in the tradition of the early works of American Indie master Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers) with a subtle dose of socio-political commentary in the background.
Shot in black & white, the film explores the unlikely relationship between two outcasts, Mañe (César Badillo) a cripple who struggles to get by and Sargento (Lowin Allende), a bizarre "silleterro" who subsists by transporting people on his back throughout the streets of Bogotá.
Both characters are socially isolated—almost invisible to the rest of the world—but by joining forces they find the strength to overcome some obstacles and transcend their bland lives. Haunted by their past, they hide some scars deep inside—the physical handicaps here are a metaphor for the spiritual wounds—and when they decide to share the truth about who they are, a dark secret will come shatter their friendship, questioning characters and spectators alike about the boundaries of real friendship.
Focusing on the lowest social level of a country devastated by poverty, violence and corruption, La Sombra del Caminante isn't a moralizing work but offers the most dehumanized beings a shot at dignity and redemption. There is no easy categorization such as monsters and victims here, but a series of portraits of people who under socio-political pressure were turned into creatures who lost any sense of moral reference.
While the story could have been transposed with a couple of homeless people living in a highly socially contrasted urban area such as New York, what makes La Sombra del Caminante a more vibrant work is the extreme setting that Bogotá and Colombia offer, thus pushing the limits of Mañe and Sargento way beyond any civilized acceptance.
Despite its cruelty, the film is touching without ever falling into pathos and pity, rather opting for humor and poetry to de-dramatize the ensemble, thus allowing the spectator to embrace this story without being appalled by its overall roughness. Guerra's minimalist script and direction are sensible and restrained, bare of any useless narrative or visual device—including colors—, the washed-out black and white tones perfectly reflecting the state of the characters and their country.
There is beauty in the ugliness and Ciro Guerra successfully transposes it onscreen in this challenging but brilliant debut.
Fred Thom
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The Wandering Shadows review
