Zama
Release date: 2017-09-28
Votes: 158
Genres: Drama, History
In a remote South American colony in the late 18th century, officer Zama of the Spanish crown waits in vain for a transfer to a more prestigious location. He suffers small humiliations and petty politicking as he increasingly succumbs to lust and paranoia.
Reviews
CinemaSerf
Daniel Giménez Cacho is the eponymous corregidor who has long since served his King in a Spanish colony in South America, hoping that he will soon earn a promotion and be able to leave this fairly squalid existence. He has a wife and child and to get back to them he is prepared to do pretty much anything, but gradually the man realises that he is but a pawn in a game being played by his superiors - who don't really want to be there either - that plays well to the narcissism and absolutism of a provincial administration that endowed the governor with kinglike powers to be used in petty and vengeful ways. Though "Zama" is more decent than many, there is is still a stark superiority complex amongst the conquerors whose treatment of the non-Christian and highly superstitious native population borders on the barbaric. There's a good Scots expression about being "king of your own midden" and Cacho et al deliver that sense well, especially when clad in their ill-fitting wigs and heavy European garments that further emphasise that they just don't belong here. Will he get his promotion? In many ways the production reminded me of Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo" (!982) as it really does encapsulate onto film the hostility of the terrain and the environment in which "Zama" lives. It also depicts the natives as little better than savages whilst the narrative itself reveals that they are nowhere near as subjected as their European masters might like to think. Morally and physically it's an uncomfortable film to watch, but that's not a bad thing. It makes us think a little about the building blocks of empire and though it does plod along at times, is quite an interesting depiction of a man who is just as trapped as any he supervises.
Movie Recommendation
The Burmese Harp1956-01-21In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW.More...
Olla2019-05-19After answering an ad on a dating website for Eastern European women, Olla leaves Ukraine and heads to French suburbia to move in with Pierre, who lives with his elderly mother. However, the suburbia cannot temper her desires, and nothing goes as expected.More...
La Ciénaga2001-04-12The life of two women and their families in a small provincial town of Salta, Argentina.More...
Our Time2018-09-28A family lives in the Mexican countryside raising fighting bulls. Esther is in charge of running the ranch, while her husband Juan, a world-renowned poet, raises and selects the beasts. Although in an open marriage, their relationship begins to crumble when Esther falls in love with an American horsebreaker and Juan is unable to control his jealousy.More...
You've Been Trumped2012-07-06In this David and Goliath story for the 21st century, a group of proud Scottish homeowners take on celebrity tycoon Donald Trump as he buys up one of Scotland's last wilderness areas to build a golf resort.More...
The Silences2019-04-03Nuria, 12, Fabio, 9, and their mother arrive on a small island in the middle of the Amazon, bordering Brazil, Colombia and Peru. They fled the Colombian armed conflict, in which their father disappeared. One day, he mysteriously reappears in their new home.More...
Yaaba1989-08-23A small African village. The story focuses on Bila, a ten year old boy who befriends an old woman, Sana. Everybody calls her 'Witch' but Bila himself calls her 'Yaaba' (grandmother). When Bila's cousin Nopoko gets sick it is Sana's medicine that saves her.More...
Alanis2017-09-21A young Buenos Aires mother finds employment as a sex worker and struggles to live under the same laws that are supposed to protect her.More...
11 Flowers2012-05-09A coming-of-age story set during China's Cultural Revolution. 11 year old Wang Han finds himself entangled with a fugitive and struggles to understand the adult world.More...
Fantasma Oculto2023-04-21In an empty theater, the rehearsal of the play starring Julio, a young and popular actor, is interrupted by Marcelo, the old man who plays alongside him. The rehearsals turn into a nightmare, as he is overcome with rage and confusion.More...
A Matador's Mistress2008-09-06Scandal erupts over a famous bullfighter's affair with a left-wing actress.More...
Shadows1960-10-14The relationship between Lelia, a light-skinned black woman, and Tony, a white man is put in jeopardy when Tony meets Lelia’s darker-skinned jazz singer brother, Hugh, and discovers that her racial heritage is not what he thought it was.More...
Nocturama2016-08-31Some young folks, tired of the society they're living in, plan a bomb attack over Paris before taking shelter for a night in a shopping center.More...
House of Pleasures2011-09-21The dawn of the 20th century: L’Apollonide, a luxurious and traditional brothel in Paris, is living its last days. In this closed world, where some men fall in love and others become viciously harmful, the women share their secrets, their fears, their joys and their pains.More...
Underground1995-05-13A group of Serbian socialists prepares for the war in a surreal underground filled by parties, tragedies, love and hate.More...
Embrace of the Serpent2015-05-25The epic story of the first contact, encounter, approach, betrayal and, eventually, life-transcending friendship, between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman, last survivor of his people, and two scientists that, over the course of 40 years, travel through the Amazon in search of a sacred plant that can heal them. Inspired by the journals of the first explorers of the Colombian Amazon, Theodor Koch-Grunberg and Richard Evans Schultes.More...
Won't You Be My Neighbor?2018-06-29For more than thirty years, and through his television program, Fred Rogers (1928-2003), host, producer, writer and pianist, accompanied by his puppets and his many friends, spoke directly to young children about some of life's most important issues.More...
Clash of the Titans1981-06-12To win the right to marry his love, the beautiful princess Andromeda, and fulfil his destiny, half-God-half-mortal Perseus must complete various tasks including taming Pegasus, capturing Medusa's head and battling the feared Kraken.More...
You Were Never Really Here2017-11-08A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, his nightmares begin to overtake him, and a conspiracy is uncovered—leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.More...
Colette2018-09-21After marrying a successful Parisian writer known commonly as Willy, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette is transplanted from her childhood home in rural France to the intellectual and artistic splendor of Paris. Soon after, Willy convinces Colette to ghostwrite for him. She pens a semi-autobiographical novel about a witty and brazen country girl named Claudine, sparking a bestseller and a cultural sensation. After its success, Colette and Willy become the talk of Paris and their adventures inspire additional Claudine novels.More...
Similar Movies
Summer
2014-09-28Sixteen-year-old Anne grows up in the isolated Biesbosch area, where spacious fields and power pylons define the landscape. With a group of friends, she spends a sultry summer holiday there trying to make the leap to maturity. But this shared experience turns into a conflict situation when Anna develops feelings for the tough girl Lena. Coming-of-age drama about growing pains, the inevitable end of childhood and choosing your own life - no matter how confusing your environment may find it.Blue Lips
2014-11-07Six people's lives come together.And Then Came Lola
2009-06-19A talented, but distracted photographer, Lola, on the verge of success in both love and work, could lose it all if she doesn't make it to a crucial meeting on time. But, as usual, Lola is late. With her job and girlfriend on the line, she has three chances to make it right. In a desperate race through the streets and back rooms of San Francisco, time grows short-will Lola make it? Will she come at all? With a pop sensibility that mixes live action, animation and still photography, And Then Came Lola explores love's age old question in a fresh new way, "If you try, try again, will you finally get it right?" (Written by M. Siler and E. Seidler)Refuge
2018-01-01Rachel, a Jewish-American woman, moves to Vienna, Austria to work for the IAEA. She befriends Yitzhak, an Ethiopian Jew and former refugee, who lives in her apartment complex. When confronted with their shared cultural history, Rachel must reconcile her past with Austria's Holocaust history and the current refugee crisis gripping Europe.Patong Girl
2014-12-25German family Schroeder is spending their Christmas holidays on the Thai island, Phuket. Of all the things, deep within the sleazy tourist bars and alleys of Patong, the youngest son Felix falls in love with a gorgeous Thai girl Fai who in return appears to mutually attracted to him.Marie Antoinette
2006-05-24The retelling of France’s iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 15 to her reign as queen at 19 and ultimately the fall of Versailles.Or (My Treasure)
2004-09-09Or shoulders a lot: she's 17 or 18, a student, works evenings at a restaurant, recycles cans and bottles for cash, and tries to keep her mother Ruthie from returning to streetwalking in Tel Aviv. Ruthie calls Or "my treasure," but Ruthie is a burden. She's just out of hospital, weak, and Or has found her a job as a house cleaner. The call of the quick money on the street is tough for Ruthie to ignore. Or's emotions roil further when the mother of the youth she's in love with comes to the flat to warn her off. With love fading and Ruthie perhaps beyond help, Or's choices narrow.Away from Her
2007-05-04Fiona and Grant have been married for nearly 50 years. They have to face the fact that Fiona’s absent-mindedness is a symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. She must go to a specialized nursing home, where she slowly forgets Grant and turns her affection to Aubrey, another patient in the home.11’09”01—September 11...
2002-09-04Filmmakers from all over the world provide short films – each of which is eleven minutes, nine seconds, and one frame of film in length – that offer differing perspectives on the 9/11 terrorist attacks.Me and My Sister
2004-11-21Louise, who has just written a novel, comes to Paris to meet with a potential publisher. While in the city, she stays with her older sister, Martine, who in many ways is the exact opposite of Louise: she lives in a fashionable neighborhood, is cold to others, and has snobby friends, while Louise lives in a small town and is thoroughly unpretentious. Louise's apparent happiness -- and similarities to their mother -- gradually gets on Martine's nerves.Antonia's Line
1995-09-21After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.The Heart Is a Dark F...
2007-12-27A woman's life is destroyed when she discovers that her husband has another family.Hotel Very Welcome
2007-02-13Five young Europeans (German, English, and Irish) try to find answers to life's questions in India and Thailand.The Forty-Year-Old Ve...
2020-10-02Desperate for a breakthrough as she nears the big 4-0, struggling New York City playwright Radha finds inspiration by reinventing herself as a rapper.Gisela
2005-06-27Gisela is a young wife and mother, living in a working class German Housing Scheme. She is a supermarket cashier, her husband a delivery driver. The marriage is stale but together they are working their way up into the middle class. George and Gisela evidently knew each other as teenagers. They live on the same scheme and George introduces her to his friend Paul. There is instant mutual attraction. Gisela spontaneously goes to a party that they invite her to that evening, where she and Paul begin a sexual relationship.Lady Chatterley
2006-11-01In the Chatterley country estate, monotonous days follow one after the other for Constance, trapped by her marriage and her sense of duty. During spring, deep in the heart of Wragby forest, she encounters Parkin, the estate’s gamekeeper. A tale of an encounter, a difficult apprenticeship, a slow awakening to sensuality for her, a long return to life for him. Or how love is but one with experience and transformation.After the Wedding
2006-02-24A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.Return Ticket
2011-12-23All the way, Cao Li has come alone. From Fuyang to Shenzhen. From Shenzhen to Shanghai. From Shanghai to home? Leaving hometown is her choice, the choice out of no choice. Returning home is her dream, the dream getting blinded by the neon lights in the city.--Marjoram
2013-04-11MARJORAM is a psychological suspense drama about a mother-daughter relationship in which love and abuse seem go hand in hand. Anna (11) is a smart and talented kid. Mary, her mother, actively supports Anna so that she can get the best out of her talents. However, suddenly Anna starts behaving in strange ways, putting herself in danger. When asked what is happening, Anna claims that she is just fine. Her weird behavior however continues, driving Mary to her limits. Why a child, who seems happy on the surface, is acting so unpredictably? Why a mother, who loves her child so much, is having no clue of what is going on?The Newest City in th...
1974-11-11Little Fatmir, whose parents have worked in a construction site, dreams of building himself a town. In his efforts to make his dream a reality, the kindergarten teacher and a workman who brings in working tools for all his friends, assist him. Within the courtyard of a kindergarten, the newest town in the world is thus erected, where children's dreams and characters are revealed.