Neruda (2016)

Neruda: Directed by Pablo Larraín. With Luis Gnecco, Gael García Bernal, Mercedes Morán, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba. An inspector hunts down Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, who becomes a fugitive in his home country in the late 1940s for joining the Communist Party.

“u0026quot;If nothing saves us from death, at least love should save us from life.u0026quot; Neruda u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe Chilean Noble laureate Pablo Neruda (Luis Gnecco)is depicted in Pablo Larrainu0026#39;s Neruda, a fiction showing the poet-politician as heroic, profane, poetic, and fat. Heu0026#39;s a stew that can seduce women and provoke presidents, a genius communist in the late 1940u0026#39;s who became a fugitive for joining the party.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film is alternately serious about this leftist politician and writer pursued by fictional police detective Oscar Peluchonneau (Gael Garcia Bernal) and playful as he cavorts with strumpets to remind us of his vigorous friend, Picasso (Emilio Guttierrez Caba). Neruda is less the poet and more the champagne Communist.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLarrainu0026#39;s filming is poetic, too, full of lush, shadowy shots that reinforce the complex lyrical details of a poet on the run. Yet, this is not a biopic; rather it is an imaginative rendering in the poetu0026#39;s own spirit as it comes through in his poetry and Stalinist affections. A scene with a drag queen discussing how Neruda incites passion is all you need to know about the difference between Nerudau0026#39;s magical words and the lower order of his daily life.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlthough Oscaru0026#39;s pursuit of Neruda smacks of Javertu0026#39;s obsession in Les Miserables, Bernal plays him as a serious policeman with a thirst for connection to Neruda. In large part, everyone who meets Neruda, even his fellow legislators when he is a senator, seems to be hypnotized by his words and his bravery.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMost of all the film does an exemplary job of depicting Neruda as a demigod whose very presence demands devotion and a shared passion for life and happiness only through the patient devotion to oneu0026#39;s country and oneu0026#39;s loves: u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Love is not about property, diamonds and gifts. It is about sharing your very self with the world around you.u0026quot; Neruda”