There are those who deny that cinema is political. There are even those who prefer to believe that ‘Starship Troopers’ or ‘Robocop’ are simple action films without any background, or that ‘Star Wars’ does not want to tell anything more than an obvious fight between good and evil, without major external influences. But cinema is politics, because everything in life is. And ‘Puan’ is a good example of this: disguised as a harmless comedy, this philosophical film hides a poisoned candy for a reactionary sector that may feel really uncomfortable in the final stretch of the film. That’s right. We all feel uncomfortable when a mirror is placed in front of us. and we don’t like what we see.
Philosophy, when will you be mine
‘Puan’ is a film that is as pleasant to watch as it is complex in its execution, almost like watching a juggler playing with knives where each movement is vital for everything to go well and Any mistake can quickly make you lose interest.. For this reason, the directors and screenwriters, María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat, play in an alchemical way with the different layers of the narrative, from the most basic slapstick joke perfect for reducing tensions to the most obvious political claim, passing through philosophical humor and self-consciousness. -exploration of a character as imperfect as he is absorbed in his own imperfection.
Ultimately, the film is not just a fun comedy about the rivalry between two ways of seeing life, as its poster and trailer announce: it is, and we will leave with that as we leave, a vindication of public education in a particularly complex moment for Argentina. In fact, ‘Puan’ was released just a month before Javier Milei won the elections and already raised the precarious state of the university, left to its own devices over recent years.
But the script is so clever that, instead of making this cry of protest a simple blob at the end of the tape or take center stage by turning it into a pamphlet, slowly flying over the lives of your characters, preparing them, in the background, for an inevitable fight against the system. Of course, at no time losing sight of the most important thing for everything to work and for the cat to eat the pill wrapped in ham: pure and simple comedy.
Puan and circus
Maybe ‘Puan’ wouldn’t hold up as well as it does if it weren’t for the incredible and exciting performance of Marcelo Subiotto, who with his selfless looks and his tempo when speaking makes his namesake Marcelo Pena a fascinating character, saddened for years by his own increasingly aging image and who, when he finally finds a path in life, is run over by a modernity in learning – which he considers, obviously, unworthy -. A modernity represented by Leonardo Sbaraglia, by the way, as bright as it is crisp and fun.
Definitely, The funniest thing about ‘Puan’ are its small details full of irony and bad temper, like the fact that the supposedly most brilliant minds in the country, prepared to debate Rousseau and Kant, the divine and the human, focus all their interest on knowing whether the fashionable singer (Vera Motta) is dating the young man or not. professor willing to challenge Pena for the professorship. Because, in the end, no matter how much Nietzsche we have read, gossip moves mountains. Or, perhaps, those philosophy classes for an octogenarian who They end up becoming a simple collective clown performance (a “philosophical show”), betraying his most basic ideals and exchanging honor for a little more money.
‘Puan’ is always sharp and fun, and also subtle and aggressive where it should be, yes. But it runs the risk of the public perceiving it as elitist or not very attached to everyday reality: after all, no matter how much its protagonist is a loser, he is still a university philosophy professor who He only feels like someone based on his classes, his oratory, his knowledge and his sad sarcasm. And there will be those who find it overly cultured or, directly, heavy in its approach. It is a reductionist thought that is not faithful to reality, yes, but it exists.
After all, ‘Puan’ dares to be intelligent in a time where it seems like poison for the box office, directed at a country with a politically uncertain destiny that did not heed its message. No matter the enemies she makes along the way, she does not try to hide her political colors (that, by the way, is also politics), but rather she shows them openly, fighting to survive with intelligence in a world that seems to turn its back on critical thinking. And all this with laughter in between that makes ignoring it an absolute mistake. With or without Kant involved.
In Espinof:
, review | He dares to be intelligent in times of mediocrity, covering the political demand with an always stinging humor.){kind=link}