Movie review: El Huaso

El Huaso

3? stars out of 5

Documentary

Playing in English and Spanish, with French subtitles at: Excentris

Parents guide: discussion of death.

El Huaso is a heartbreakingly personal film about family, death and psychological inheritance. Therein, Mississauga, Ont.-raised, Montreal-residing Chilean-Canadian director Carlo Guillermo Proto turns the camera on his morose father, Gustavo, whose grip on reality is loosening by the day; and on his mother, his sisters and, especially, himself, as they try to deal with their clan?s floundering patriarch.

Proto?s grandfather committed suicide; his grandmother suffered from Alzheimer?s disease. His 58-year-old father has acquired traits from both, carrying around a lifelong death wish and watching his short-term memory slip away as he attempts to accomplish everyday tasks.

El Huaso is a poetic word for cowboy in Chilean Spanish, with variations including countryman, loner, outcast and noble horseman. While he waits for death ? and tells his family that he will bring it upon himself if his mental state worsens ? Gustavo dreams of returning to Chile and becoming a huaso.

Against his family?s wishes, he makes the trip, finding peace at a ranch where he can care for and ride horses, and be in the moment.

?I?m going to Chile alone, as a way to prepare my family for when I?m not here,? he says.

But while the experience makes things better, it doesn?t erase the emptiness he feels inside. His family struggles with his fatalistic attitude. Proto travels to Chile to make sure his dad is okay, and talk to him about his history of depression.

Gustavo?s anxiety is contagious, Proto tells him. We see the director in therapy, struggling to come to terms with his feelings about his father. He, his sisters and their mom confront Gustavo about his plans to take his own life and what it would mean for the family ? to no avail.

He is free to do as he pleases, Gustavo stubbornly tells them, while his duties as provider weigh heavily on his heart.

Though the subject matter is dark, Proto injects moving lyricism into his tale. There is respect for his father, who can be heard expressing his views in even-toned voice-over. And there is indeed a nobility to his quest, however ill-conceived.

Technical details enhance the treatment: the imagery, by Benjamin R. Taylor, is meticulous and carefully balanced, while the atmospheric soundtrack, by Mitchell Akiyama, carries languorous emotional depth.

After playing at the Rendez-vous du cin?ma qu?b?cois last year, and Toronto?s Hot Docs in April, El Huaso screened on CBC?s Documentary channel in June.

There is a shocking epilogue to this tale, which won?t be revealed here to preserve the filmgoing experience. El Huaso may not put a spring in your step, but it will touch you in a way that most films don?t.

Director Carlo Guillermo Proto and cinematographer Benjamin R. Taylor will introduce the film at 7:35 screenings through Oct. 3, at Excentris.

tdunlevy@montrealgazette.com

Twitter:@tchadunlevy

Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Review+Huaso/7308960/story.html

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