It pays homage to classic filmmaking, it’s got two fine-looking international stars, and it calls attention to the environmental crisis in the rainforest.
It’s still a dumb movie.
“Ardor” dresses up a basic revenge plot with arty style and mystical mumbo-jumbo, all played out in a South American jungle where people have apparently watched a lot of spaghetti Westerns.
In their quest to exploit the land, mercenaries set fire to swathes of the forest, trying to drive out yet another local farmer. Time for a mysterious outsider to emerge, barefoot and shirtless, from the jungle.
The credits name him as Kai, although I don’t remember him being referred to that way — he’s really another Man with No Name, roaming the landscape and showing up to set things right. Kai is played by Gael García Bernal, the Mexican star of “Rosewater,” who smolders impressively and deserves enormous credit for keeping a straight face through all this.
The mystery hero teams up with the landowner’s daughter Vania (Alice Braga, from “Elysium”) to strike back at the mercenaries. This involves a great deal of booby-trap-placing and javelin-throwing, all of which proves Kai can do wonders with a machete and a few branches.
There’s also time for one dew-soaked bit of lovemaking on the rainforest floor. Don’t get your hopes up for a happily-ever-after ending for these two, because Kai is a loner who must ultimately go his own way, and all that.
We should mention here that there is a jaguar stalking through the forest, and that this highly symbolic cat turns up at crucial moments in the struggle. Like our hero, the jaguar has been crowded out of his real home, and no longer has a place in this world. (He’s also barefoot and shirtless, come to think of it.)
Argentine writer-director Pablo Fendrik lays this stuff out with complete sincerity, and while he may have real affection for the films of spaghetti Western genius Sergio Leone, he completely misses the wicked humor of Leone’s world.
And although I’m fond of genre pictures that include political subtext, the crudeness of Fendrik’s approach dissipates whatever goodwill the environmental angle might have generated. Rallying outrage about the deforestation of the planet might require a superhero to step in, not just a loner with a jaguar as his spirit guide.
“Ardor” (one and a half stars)
Dumb movie about a mystical loner (Gael García Bernal) who helps a woman (Alice Braga) fight against rainforest destroyers. The film’s arty approach recalls spaghetti Westerns, but it’s way too heavy for its own good. In Spanish, with English subtitles.
Rating: R, for violence
Showing: SIFF Uptown Cinema
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
