La boca del lobo - Peruvian film

I saw this Peruvian film yesterday. La boca del lobo means mouth of the wolf.
For me this is yet another discovery of a serious and powerful film from Peru.

It is about the dirty war between the "Shining Path" ( senderos luminosos) Maoist guerillas and the armed forces of Peru in the eighties. The villagers, mostly the local Indians, are caught between the killings of the guerillas and the brutal retaliation of the antiterrorist army.The army lieutenant Roca is excessivly patriotic at the cost of lives of innocent people. The invisible but ruthless guerilla group strikes at will, killing soldiers and informants. In a rage to retaliate against the guerilla killing of his soldiers, Capt Roca marches the whole village and massacres them in cold blood. When Vitin Luna, the soldier who resists this mindless cruelty and refuses to fire, he is put under detention. Unable to tolerate the brutalities, Luna deserts the army in disgust.

The movie is not far from the reality witnessed in Peru. It could have been a documentary. The story is based on true incidents that took place in the mountain town of Chuspi between 1980 and 1983, where a small unit of soldiers was garrisoned to defend the town from attack by the Shining Path. The movie not only documents the reality of the Peruvian civil war but also the racism against Indian people in general.

President Fujimori put an end to the guerillas with his ruthless campaign. Now there is no more war between the two sides, except for occasional minor incidents.

The movie, released in 1988 has been directed by Francisco Lombardi of Peru. He is also a writer and producer. He directed the other film " captain pantoja and the visitadoras" based on the novel of Mario Vargas Llosa.