Filmmaker Luis Carlo Hueck fought an uphill battle for his health.
Back to Life (Vuelvealavida) is a fiction film based on the true story of Luis Carlos and his brother Alfredo, co-directors and screenwriters of Venezuela’s submission for the International Feature Film Academy Award.
Vuelvealavida is actually a seafood cocktail popular in Latin America, which literally translates as bringing a person “back to life”. As a film title, it summarizes the journey of a man who at one point faced imminent death.
Ricardo (José Ramón Barreto), 19, returns to Venezuela with his family after a studying in the United States. Following a very noisy and alcoholic welcome party, he goes to spend a few days at the beach with friends. The next day, he wakes up with a very painful case of priapism and returns to the city for treatment. But during the hospital’s routine tests, a very serious illness is discovered, whose treatment is out of reach:, and not only because of the cost.
The screenplay recreates, in great detail, the family’s trauma over the decision to attempt a transplant which was experimental at the time, with Alfredo acting as the donor for his brother. Determined to be more faithful to the true story than to efficient filmmaking, they include so many details and anecdotes that much of the story’s natural emotional momentum is lost. Nor are there any references to Venezuela’s turbulent political situation, since the tale takes place in the peaceful year of 1996, just as it did in real life.
The story is divided into three parts. In the first, recounted in a light-hearted comic tone, we meet Ricardo, his family and the paradisiacal beaches of his country. In the second part, which is darker but with some inexplicably farcical moments, Ricardo goes through the classic stages from denial to acceptance of his illness, thanks to the support and affection of his family, especially his younger brother Manuel (Alan Grynbal). The third part of the film unfolds like a documentary, with home movies and still photographs that the brothers took during Riccardo’s treatment in the U.S. Signs superimposed over the images tell us what happened next.
The narrative of Back to Life finds its best moments in the freedom of dreams. The dream sequences are fine achievements, fluidly shot without dialogue, on beaches surrounding transparent water, or in interiors with nightmarish textures. They are fantasies unattached to reality and ironically are the film’s most convincing portrayal of grief and the struggle for life. In one standout scene, Ricardo is in a bar where all the people playing pool are sick and in hospital gowns, hooked to their IVs. The atmosphere, reminiscent of the mental hospital in Terry Gilliam’s 13 Monkeys, has the sticky viscosity of dreams that remain in the mind upon awakening.
Luis Carlos Hueck directed Papita, maní, tostón in 2013, the highest grossing Venezuelan film in the history of the country, so the director knows what the public likes. In Back to Life, he returns to comedy with dramatic details; but many of the jokes are childish, out of place and above all unnecessary.
Still, the brothers in the film have a great chemistry and an attractive presence, which should greatly help the film win over audiences.
Director, screenplay: Luis Carlos Hueck. Alfredo Hueck
Producers: Paolo Merlini, Luis Carlos Hueck, Alfredo Hueck
Cast: José Ramón Barreto, Alan Grynbal, José Roberto Díaz, Crisol Carabal, Eulalia Siso, and Shakti Maal.
Cinematography: Clever Castillo
Editor: Alfredo Hueck
Sound: Angemyr Lezama
Music: Axel Berasain
Production companies: Centro Nacional Autónomo de Cine (Venezuela), Eye Hook Creative (USA)
In Spanish
90 minutes