Lucrecia Martel's "Zama" is about a functionary in colonial South America. What I interpreted from the movie - having never read the book - is that there's always a hierarchy. Diego de Zama is part of the colonial class, but having been born in South America, he's considered "less" than the people born in Spain (I remember in ninth grade learning about the different levels of the colonial class in Latin America). Even if he gets the transfer that he's expecting, it won't change the view of him.

In addition to the story, the movie has some impressive cinematography, showing both the coast and the inland. At the very least, this is an outstanding example of Argentine cinema, and it shows Martel as one of the finest directors of our era. I recommend it.

This deeply strange film is a character study of a Spanish officer who slowly unravels in a South American backwater as he awaits a transfer to Buenos Aires, a transfer that never comes.

Daniel Gimenez Cacho plays the titular character, a man who begins the film with a strong sense of authority and prestige but who slowly loses it over the course of the story as he realizes he's as much a pawn of the Spanish colonizers as those being colonized. There are elements of magical realism here and there throughout the movie, but they're not inserted too heavily -- they're used more as a visual representation of Zama's tattering mind than as plot devices. The film is visually impressive, especially in the last quarter of the film when Zama joins an expedition to track down an infamous bandit and the movie descends into the stuff of nightmares.

"Zama" will probably try the patience of some, as it's extremely languorous and can sometimes be a bit confusing if you don't have a grasp on the history and time period (I didn't). But it's fascinating in its own way if you give into its strange rhythms.

Grade: A-

A film about South American colonialism that I just couldn't connect with. It never gives us the perspective of the indigenous people, relegating them to parading around topless and seemingly content, which seemed like an odd choice. As for the colonizers, quite a bit of the spare story revolves around a functionary who wants a transfer to another post, but is frustrated by the perpetual delays and the whims of his bureaucratic superior, which wasn't very interesting to me. By far my favorite moment of the film was when a llama wandered around in the background of the governor's office and then approached the camera, completely stealing the scene. I suppose Matheus Nachtergaele is suitably devilish as Vicuña Porto and has some fine moments as well, but the film needed more of him. I liked the idea of this film, but was glad when it was over - 115 minutes was too long.