Dir. Pablo Trapero, 2002, Argentina, 102 mins
Cast:
Jorge Román, Mimí Ardú, Darío Levy, Hugo Anganuzzi
The Bonaerense is the name of the Buenos Aires police force and this film focuses on one man's experiences as a member of this force. Zapa (Jorge Román) is a locksmith who arrested and detained by the local police after his boss Polaco (Hugo Anganuzzi) sets him up to take the fall for a safecracking job. Zapa is helped by his uncle, a retired Chief of Police, who offers Zapa an opportunity to avoid punishment for the crime and start afresh. Ironically for man arrested for a criminal offence, the uncle gets Zapa to join the police force in Buenos Aires. Zapa accepts his uncle's offer, goes to Buenos Aires and signs up. After completing his police training, Zapa starts his new life as a police officer and is helped by a senior police officer named Gallo (Darío Levy). However, Zapa's new life is soon tainted by crime when he gradually becomes involved in some corrupt police activities.
Anyone who groans at the prospect of seeing yet another drama that shows us how corrupt the police are may be surprised at how this scenario is handled in El Bonaerense . The corrupt situation that Zapa eventually finds himself involved in doesn't feel forced or contrived. Instead, it's a place that he's slowly been moving towards without realising it. Zapa thinks he can control what's happening to him, but he is almost sucked into corrupt dealings without realising the seriousness of the situation, despite warnings from a teacher (Mimí Ardú) who he has is having a relationship with. Although there are good officers who obey the law, we also see how the rules can be broken right from the start. For instance, when Zapa applies to be a police trainee, he is told that he is too old to enrol. However, the rules are easily bent and his age reduced from 32 to 28 so that he can join immediately. We also see how Zapa's training in straightforward police procedures is neglected, when the correct procedure for filling out an arrest form is quickly skipped over.
Zapa also sees bribery and police brutality, but it is viewed by him, and shown to us, in an almost casual manner. When t he inevitable police corruption plot eventually surfaces, it's explored in a surprisingly offhand way, as if this kind of thing goes on all the time and is simply run of the mill business. This way of seeing the Bonaerense somehow seems right in the context of the film, because Zapa, like the audience, is an outsider to this world. Like us, Zapa isn't given the reasons or motives as to why some of the police are embroiled in crime; it's just seen as the normal way of doing things. The film feels realistic, due to the documentary-style camera work that is used throughout and the naturalistic performances of the cast. The film is ultimately effective because it doesn't take a simple, obvious stance for or against Zapa, or any of the other characters. Because of the way the film is presented, it's up to us to decide if, or how far, Zapa has been, or will be, corrupted by his job as a member of the Bonaerense.
Martyn Bamber
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