EL PRINCIPE (2019) Sebastian Muñoz

Seen in Venice 76

El Principe is the nickname given to a boy who gets into ( a lot of ) trouble for love by his cell boss, El Potro ( played admirably by the well-known Alfredo Castro, who also starred in Desde Allà, which won the Golden Lion a few years ago ). A relationship begins between the two, based on sex, but also on mutual confidences and stories ( obviously with the older one dominating the younger one ). Around them, a whole series of typically prison characters and situations, where desire is mixed with respect and oppression, where everything has a completely different price than it would have in the real world.

It's a super-gay film, and while the characters are sometimes heterosexual, all the dynamics unfold in a homosexual vein: love stories, betrayals, spite, all between men. Brutality is ever-present, though rarely overt; even the sex scenes are crude and explicit, very carnal and erotic. The setting is almost theatrical: the prison, and especially the cell, are used as a stage. Nevertheless, the acting doesn't feel forced at all, and everyday life blends perfectly with the flashbacks contained in the Prince's stories. Indeed, just as always happens in prison, real-life stories become the most interesting way to spend the day.

Despite there being several strong influences ( Fassbinder, Derek Jarman, Kiss of the Spider Woman ), the director creates an original story because it is authentic, where sex is shown as it really is, the shots dissect the bodies giving them an almost sacred shine, in open contrast with the filth of the rooms in which they are exhibited and the feelings narrated seem real even if born from the constraint of having to stay in the same place.

At the end of the screening, the tears of Juan Carlo Maldonado, interpreter of the Prince (very good), are liberating also for us spectators, removing the tension accumulated during the viewing.