A muddled view of history

THE Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival draws to a close this weekend at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, its offerings from Cuba, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Chile, Mexico and plenty of other countries easily showcasing the varied wares of Spanish-speaking filmmakers from around the world.

One of the more truly international-feeling efforts, however, is “La Fiesta del Chivo.” It was made by Peruvian director Luis Llosa, adapting his cousin Mario Vargas Llosa’s towering 2001 novel about Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo; it’s a Spanish-British co-production, filmed in English; and its large cast features Swedish Italian actress Isabella Rossellini and Cuban American actor Steven Bauer.

Unfortunately, it’s the filmmaking that feels all over the place. There’s a token attempt to capture the triple-layered perspective of the book -- composed of the men who became Trujillo’s assassins, the recollections of a wealthy Manhattan lawyer (Rossellini) who in her virginal youth was one of the generalissimo’s many victims, and the dictator himself in his final throes -- but director Llosa is too ham-fisted a historical choreographer in his staging.

The film has a sleek-looking, handsomely epic feel -- and Trujillo’s 30-year run is complex, fascinating and gruesome enough to warrant a big, bold treatment -- while simultaneously feeling choppy and disjointed.

Most distressingly, no character receives enough screen time to break through in a galvanizing, emotional way, despite the often-brutal goings-on. Too often there’s a cliched shorthand at work: relentlessly shadowy cinematography, pulpy dialogue (“Everyone was his for the taking”) and easily telegraphed acts of betrayal.

Faring better with more modest entertainment ambitions and yet potentially wide international appeal is the festival’s closing-night film, the Chilean battle-of-the-sexes comedy “Pretendiendo.” The story is a Billy Wilder-ish beneath-the-mask concoction in which a romantically disillusioned Santiago architect (Uruguayan beauty Barbara Mori), tired of men who seem to only cheat or ogle, moves to a coastal town with a plan to reinvent herself as a homely, unassuming, off-the-market office worker. She does so by means of a fat suit, fake teeth, makeup and a wedding ring.

But when confronted with a chauvinistic, self-proclaimed lothario (Marcelo Mazzarello) at her new job, she decides to add one more “character” to her new role-playing life, no prosthetics required: smokin’-hot siren with vengeance on her mind.

Naturally, as the deception progresses, his hidden vulnerabilities start to melt her hidden bitterness, and the high-concept gods smile. But director-co-writer Claudio Dabed not only understands the inherent juiciness of the roles he’s given Mori and Mazzarello, he also has a deft touch dramatizing the ascendant flame of unexpected love.

Although the movie has tonal problems, overall there’s an appealing shagginess to the preposterous setup that allows the actors to sell their big comic moments and their more intimate exchanges with genuineness.

Dabed cares less about playing puppet master to a comedy of errors than inching his impostors toward emotional epiphanies, which is refreshingly rare in a genre too often beholden to the meet-cute and the “I do” rather than the sometimes complicated stuff in between.

Political message

Robert Greenwald’s brand of supercharged, ideologically laser-like documentary -- emotionally pitched and not exactly nuanced -- is not everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s no denying that the issue of who’s profiting from the war in Iraq doesn’t need much volume-tinkering to get the blood boiling.

Greenwald’s newest screed, “Iraq for Sale,” is being given a screening by the group Neighbors for Peace and Justice on Oct. 21, and Greenwald will be there for a Q&A; afterward.

There should be plenty to talk about, as his film efficiently lays out the bizarre, queasy details of the unwieldy private contracting machine that has taken over much of the military’s role in keeping the war effort going.

Don’t bother looking for denials or on-the-record explanations from those in Greenwald’s sights; it’s unclear whether the producer-director even sought them out for questioning in the first place. But as far as liberal-advocacy filmmaking goes, it’s potent.

weekend@latimes.com

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Screenings

Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival

* “La Fiesta del Chivo”: 7 p.m. Friday

* “Pretendiendo”: 6:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., L.A.

Info: (323) 469-9066, www.latinofilm.org

‘Iraq for Sale’

When: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 21

Where: Unitarian Universalist Church, 12355 Moorpark St., Studio City

Info: RSVP at iraqforsale.bravenewtheaters.com/screening/show/6348-studio-city