MOVIE REVIEW : 40 Years of Venezuelan Cinema Presented at UCLA

The UCLA Film Archive’s “Venezuela: Forty Years of Cinema, 1950-1990” introduces us to an exciting sampling from a country whose films are virtually unknown in the United States. The film industry of Venezuela parallels that of other South American countries, progressing from commercial movie-making of the post-World War II era into its own rebellious and critical New Wave by the ‘70s. After a decline in production in the late ‘80s, a new generation of filmmakers is emerging.

The series commences Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in UCLA’s Melnitz Theater with “Macu, the Policeman’s Wife” (1987), made by Solveig Hoogesteijn, who immigrated to Venezuela from Sweden as a small child. This is one of those films in which a female perspective and sensibility prove crucial and insightful. Inspired by an actual incident, this well-made, well-acted film focuses on Macu (Maria Luisa Mosquera), a beautiful 19-year-old homemaker hounded by the media when her policeman husband (Daniel Alvarado), 20 years her senior, is accused of murdering several young men, one of whom apparently was his wife’s lover.

Instead of concentrating on an investigation of the murders, Hoogesteijn instead explores the couple’s relationship, revealing the wife’s lowly status and lack of freedom and opportunity and the husband’s classic machismo. There are some surprising, even shocking revelations along the way, not the least of which is the strong love that binds the couple together no matter what.

It’s paired with Carlos Hugo Christensen’s highly atmospheric, emotion-charged “The ‘Isabel’ Arrived This Afternoon” (1950). It’s a poetic, folkloric fable in which a 15-year-old (Tomas Henriquez) becomes a cabin boy for his adored sea captain father (top Mexican star Arturo De Cordova, who also appeared in various Hollywood films). The boy soon discovers, however, that despite having a devoted wife, his father has a girl in at least one other port--a lush-looking nightclub singer (Virginia Luque) who has every reason to fear slipping into prostitution and eventual disintegration. In a radically different way in a different era, this durable vintage film speaks to the status of women as much as “Macu, the Policeman’s Wife” does.

In this regard, Friday’s “The Smoking Fish” (1976), Roman Chalbaud’s sensational (in all senses of the word) film, offers a gritty depiction of commercial prostitution. This dynamite picture--at once operatic and genuinely moving--takes its title from a warehouse-like nightclub/brothel in a compound on the outskirts of Caracas. It’s a no-frills, cement-block establishment owned by the glamorous but middle-aging La Garza (Hilda Vera) and run, more or less, by her latest lover, the much-younger Dimas (Miguelangel Landa). The wide lapels, breast-plate ties, bell-bottom pants and sideburns of the ‘70s are the amusingly perfect look for this muscular, sexy gambler and con man.

La Garza and Dimas are earthy, hard-living, hard-loving tempestuous types, alternately generous and cruel, but they are not vicious. Their expansiveness, self-absorption and lack of subtlety, however, make them surprisingly vulnerable to the enigmatic young Jairo (Orlando Urdaneta), who insinuates himself into their hectic lives. There is no doubt that the fate of these three can take on symbolic sociopolitical meaning, but this vibrant, irresistible picture can also be enjoyed for the full-throttle melodrama that it is. Information: (310) 206-FILM.

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The Summer ’95 Hong Kong Premiere Showcase presents a one-week run at the Monica 4-Plex, starting Friday, of Tsui Hark’s ethereal, erotic romantic fantasy “Green Snake,” a gorgeous-looking tale of love and betrayal, in which two giant snakes evolve into two beautiful sisters, Green Snake (Maggie Chung) and White Snake (Joey Wong), who discover that being human isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Information: (310) 394-9741.