Starring: Daniela Alvarado, Pedro Lander, Dora Mazzone, Ramiro Meneses Script: Henry Herrera Original Title: Punto Y Raya Running Time: 1:40 Country: Venezuela Year: 2004

Part buddy movie, part political satire, Punto Y Raya follows the adventures of an unlikely duo, a crook enrolled by force in the Venezuelian army (Roque Valero) and a honest and naive Columbian (Edgar Ramírez) serving his country.

Separated from their respective units after a battle, the two nemeses will develop an unexpected friendship after multiple fights and various encounters with the guerilla, the drug cartel and their own camps. They will even settle the score while visiting their hometowns, as the Columbian will loose his virginity with his companion's sister while the latter will fulfill the former girlfriend's fantasies.

Screenwriter Henry Herrera's script aims at showing the absurdity of war, and more particularly the current situation in Columbia and Venezuela, a mess that the two protagonists traverse during the movie, while comedy provides a relief.

Punto Y Raya has been formatted as a blockbuster, with its mix of action and humor, and certainly brings awareness to its cause, at least among international audience that are not very familiar with the geopolitical context in the area. The issue here lies in the treatment, both at the narrative and visual levels, which undermines the political ambition of this work. While entertaining, the buddy movie aspect of the film recycles most ingredients of this sub-genre, thus creating a sensation of banality that tends deserve the political satire. The scenario contends to observe without giving any real solution—beside human fraternity—but the approach with humor, rather than drama, considerably lessens the impact.

As problematic are some directing choices. Filmmaker Elia Schneider has opted for a rupture of style during the battle sequences, going for a digital transposition of Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan kinetic camera shoot. Rhythm and cinematography change abruptedly, giving the feeling that you're suddenly watching a different movie, and unfortunately a bad one, as gunfights are pretty poorly staged. Schneider seems to then be chasing a different audience than the one to which the political satire is destined, which looks pretty awkward onscreen.

As a result and despite all its good intentions, Punto Y Raya's lack of focus ends up creating a sense of shallowness where depth would have been needed to effectively transmit the socio-political message.

  Fred Thom