After the release of astounding existential heist thriller “The Aura” aka “El Aura” (2005), the movie lovers were robbed off a rapidly budding talent in Argentinian & world cinema. Buenos Aires born film-maker Fabian Bielinsky, whose brief but gleaming career (“Nine Queens”, “El Aura”) came to end on June 28, 2006 due to his sudden death (heart attack) at the age of 47. Bielinsky attained the directorial chair only through hardships and unceasing apprenticeship (he directed his first movie nearly after two decades entering into the industry, in 1983). Nevertheless, Bielinsky with his two films have explored or portrayed themes & visuals, which some of the mainstream directors haven’t pursued throughout their career. His penchant for the definitive style of narrative construction is evident, especially in ‘Aura’ and by each of the re-watches of “El Aura”, a movie-buff is left to ponder over what kind of master narratives did Bielinsky’s mind held for us?
The movie opens with a man lying on a white tile floor. He
gradually grasps his surroundings, gets up and as the camera pulls back, we see
he is in the lobby of a bank ATM. Later, we learn that the man has had an
epileptic seizure. His name is Esteban Espinosa (Ricardo Darin) and we see him
in his workshop, preparing the lifeless body of a fox (a taxidermist) for a
museum in Buenos Aires. The loud music in the workshop drowns out the beckoning
of his wife. Espinosa has a photographic memory and his favorite hobby is to
design elaborate robbery fantasies, which he explains to a fellow taxidermist
Sontag (Alejandro Awada), while waiting to get paid for his work. Sontag asks
the loner Espinosa to accompany him on a hunting trip through the forests of southern Argentina. Espinosa immediately rejects the proposal, but when he
returns home, he sees that his wife has left him and agrees to the hunting
trip.
Espinosa, the man experiencing an existential crisis, seems
to have been affixed to a place. He is stuck inside himself and this lack of
movement (literal as well as figurative) is wonderfully visualized in a earlier
scene, where the side profile of Espinosa sitting in his bed (with the letter
his wife has left), seamlessly morphs into him sitting in the airport lounge,
then in the airplane and finally in the jeep, going to a forest resort. Since
the local casino is gearing up for its last run, the town is riddled with
guests and so Espinosa and Sontag are forced to stay in a backwoods cabin,
managed by an elderly man Carlos Dietrich (Manuel Rodal). As Dietrich has gone on a
trip, his young wife Diana (Dolores Fonzi) is in charge.
The next day hunting doesn’t go as planned as Espinosa
botches Sontag’s chance to hunt a deer. They both exchange some caustic remarks
and later Sontag leaves due to a personal problem. Espinosa, the guy who doesn’t
want to kill animals, wants to prove to his friend that he is a tough guy.
Ultimately, he takes a shot, but unfortunately, he brings down some bystander.
The accidental killing, however, opens up new possibilities in Espinosa’s life.
Through a series of coincidences and unpredictable turns, Espinosa gets the
chance to perform a real time, perfect heist. But, this isn’t a conventional
gripping thriller as the protagonist is both an uninvolved onlooker and a chief
player.
Espinosa is the perfect ‘noir’ hero, besieged by loneliness
and lack of ties. The film’s title indicates the trance state the protagonist
experiences before the epileptic seizure. Espinosa explains this to Diana:
“everything stands still and a door opens in your head and lets things in.
There is nothing you can do to stop it. You're free: no options, no choice,
nothing for you to decide. Things narrow and you surrender yourself”. Since
noir heroes are defined by their downfalls, one gets a feeling that Espinosa
has been in this trance state for a long time, waiting for the inevitable. Espinosa’
epilepsy isn’t some gimmick that is instilled to move forward the narrative.
The theme of frozen time (or the state of ‘aura’) is
repeatedly evoked in the narrative; through Espinosa’s vivid photographic
memory or even in the moments when he points a gun at someone. There are many analogous sequences in the film, where time freezes and all that’s left for the
protagonist is to surrender himself. Director Bielinsky diffuses this idea of
getting stuck in time or place to other minor characters too. Diana and her
brother Julio are in a state, where nothing is left for them to decide. One of
the vicious thugs (Pablo Cedron) says “The first I saw you I said, ‘this isn’t going
to work”, but he goes with Espinosa’s plan as if it is inevitable. The other
old thug (Walter Reyno) is more afraid of moving out than a botched heist
plan.
Bielinsky’s script has got to be one of the original scripts
in cinema. It is crafted with such attention to detail, which transcends the
nature of some of the conventional crime cinema elements. The script evokes the
dreamy, deeply psychological narrative approach of Antonoini’s or Christopher
Nolan films (“Insomnia” & “Memento”). The vivid explanation of Espinosa’s
psychological state imbues us the sensation to contemplate on the blurring line
that separates reality from fantasy (just like in “Memento”). Bielinsky was
also wonderfully inventive in moving forward the narrative. Two sequences were
absolutely awe-inspiring for the way it was written and visualized on-screen:
the botched heist involving Vega as Espinosa observes from a detached state;
the scene in ‘El Eden’, where Espinosa makes a little conversation with the
little girl, Vanina and learns a lot. Bielinsky was also able to keep the
suspense till the end, even though on the outset, the narrative seems to be a
simple setup.
Director Bielinsky diffuses other themes like the treatment
of women and the symbiosis between animal and human. The vital & minor
characters seem to be men, who had ignored their life-partners or has beaten
them down. The romantic potential between Diana and Espinosa is hinted at, but
Bielinsky is clever enough to not go down that predictable route. For Diana,
the prospect of a new relationship seems to be less intriguing than a life that
liberates her from the chains of men. The
recurrent close-ups of the ominous dog symbolize the arousing animal side of
the protagonist (or his transforming moral sense). The scene where the dog
gives a baleful, accusatory look to Espinosa over what unfolded in the woods
was one of the few moments that proclaim Bielinsky’s superior directorial
abilities.
Music is another strong point of the movie, which heightens
the thrilling sensation particularly in two contrasting sequences: when
Espinosa trembles with the rifle after sighting the deer; and when Espinosa
calmly observes the shoot-up in factory, where people scatter like a deer in the
forest. Performances are all top-notch
and Ricardo Darin is perfectly convincing as the damaged existential hero. Through
limited dialogues, he conveys his characters’ dilemma & unrestrained
fantasies. Look out for the sequence when the two thugs take Espinosa into the
woods after discovering Dietrich’s cellphone; Darin conveys ingenuity, fear,
detachment and deceitfulness within that brief scene.
“The Aura” (134 minutes) is an excellent existential noir
and a superior atmospheric thriller. Beneath the film’s taut, simple narrative lie
complex, unobtrusive themes and perceptions that perpetually seize us.
Trailer
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