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| | Label: Cameo Media
Salesrank: 170991
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| Our Price: $24.99 |
| Used Price: $24.99 |
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MPAA Rating:
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Spain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Filmographies, Interactive Menu, Making Of, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: Based on the novel of Gabriel Garcia Marquez by the same name, but set in the forties, the film is a reflection on life and its illusions by the Mexican master Arturo Ripstein. In a small coastal town in Mexico in the late 1940's, an obstinate colonel of the anticlerical Cristeros War keeps waiting for the pension that has been promised to him but never delivered. Every Friday, he goes down to the docks, dressed in his best suit in anticipation of the arrival of the letter announcing his pension. Everyone knows that he is waiting in vain, but he refuses to face reality, even though, deep in his heart, he knows that the letter will never arrive. His wife is suffering from asthma; their son Agustin was killed by the fascists; and the roof over their head will soon be taken away because of the unpaid mortgage. Yet the Colonel stands by his dream, refusing to give up despite poverty and hunger. He knows that if he lets go, there is nothing else left. His wife Lola proposes to sell the cock, which is the only thing left behind from their son. But the Colonel does not want to give up the fighting cock, which he believes will win one day. The story is rendered in a simple and straightforward narrative style unlike Ripstein's earlier work, which is more baroque, or Marquez's magical realist style. Repeated close-ups accentuate the damages of a long and hopeless wait on a person's inner strength. Veteran Fernando Lujan is remarkable as the Colonel, but Spanish Marisa Paredes shines as the wife who suffers in dignity. Salma Hayek has a brief appearance as the prostitute who had a relationship with
El Coronel no tiene quien le escriba (aka No One Writes to the Colonel) Reviews:
El Coronel No Tiene Quien le Escriba 
2008-05-31 - I found this to be a wonderful movie. I have over 200 Latin movies from all over thw world and enjoyed this story very much. I did not think it was too long or slow paced. I have telenovelas that run almost 40 hours, so this was quick movie for me! I'm having a movie night with friends to watch this again.
VERY Slow Paced 
2005-05-06 - Notice to all insomniacs: watch this film. You will be cured!!! Seriously, the pace is extremely slow. My wife and I both appreciate slow paced films, especially foreign movies, that gradually reveal sublteties that most other movies do not. While the slow pace of this film produces some rewards, the length of the film (nearly 2 hrs) was not worth the meager rewards of this adaptation of Gabriel-Garcia Marquez's book.
