Dogs, movies and Bombón

A quick note on a movie we saw last week. Bombón (El Perro) (Trans. Bombón The Dog) is one of those movies that you don’t need to see in one go. The protagonist (Villegas) loses his job in the difficult economic times that Argentina was going through. The one thing he’s good at – making knives with a great deal of love doesn’t appear to fetch him any money. He’s in his fifties and perhaps struck by the inertia of his own life. He is dependent on his daughter and his entire life seems to centre around his car. On a road then he meets a woman who manages to give him a dog in return for a favour. The dog, a beautiful Argentine Dogo is young and appears to have received no training at all. Villegas and the dog find sudden purpose and after some amount of training win a local event. In hard economic times, this sudden stroke of luck help him dream a few dreams.

The castle comes crashing down when it appears that the dog has lost his Mojo. Well, it has a happy ending. I won’t say more.

I think there is something very earthy about most of the Spanish movies I have seen. It might have to do with the fact that one tends to watch the best movies in a language that one doesn’t understand. You tend to be choosy and pick stuff that comes recommended. The Argetine landscape, general characters with good humour, the innikko-nalaikko (Tamizh, trans. today-tomorrow) state of affairs and the currency of intentions. Perhaps it’s an an emotional landscape that one relates to. Or maybe the best movies in any language have the same impact.

If you love dogs, you’ll relate to this movie deeply. While perhaps the dog is just a metaphor for the helplessness one feels over one’s own condition and circumstances – if you’ve ever lived with a dog you will recognize that dogs closely mirror the health and attitude of the human beings they are with. Villegas perhaps sees himself reflected in the dog. Talented, full of potential but forced to play by the rules of commercial success. The brilliance of the movie is perhaps that it is just as insightful and entertaining, irrespective of the level of metaphoric interpretation you choose. And yes, it made me miss my dog very much. There’s nothing quite comforting as the head of a wagging-tail dog in your hands with eyes that look at you with complete adoration and trust.