La Soga (2010)

LA SOGA (dir. Josh Crook) The film concerns government corruption in the Dominican Republic and Manny Perez plays Luisito (he also wrote the screenplay), the morally conflicted enforcer for a corrupt Dominican general who is illegally monitoring the island's criminal element. The central premise of the film is that it is easier and cheaper for US authorities to deport criminals back to the Dominican Republic rather than to try them in American courts, and this influx of criminality is threatening to destabilize the Dominican government. However, Luisito's boss gives the criminals an opportunity to buy back their freedom regardless of the ruthlessness of their crimes. Luisito's moral dilemma might be a bit cloying, but the action sequences shot in the barrios of Santiago are fairly riveting.

Manny Perez deserves kudos for his writing and the lead role; he's paid his acting dues and I find he acquits himself well as an enforcer, out for old fashion justice, in this movie. I would not dispute the movie might have had a low budget but it delivers one hell of a good story. It seems we have to go away from Hollywood to get good stories like this one. Even if your Spanish is not up to par, you can follow easily with the English subs and the movie's imagery. For the movie to manage the quality it did, speaks well of the collaborative effort needed to deliver it. Manny Perez is making his mark.I'm not one who usually elaborates the movie storyline; exceptionally, I will. The movie is about the son of a butcher, Luisito, who listens and learns from his father, very good role model under the circumstances. He sees his father killed by a drug lord; at a young age still but smart enough to understand how despicable that was, he just about kills that drug lord's cohort soon after. That action lands him in detention where a corrupt general, observing how cold and collected the young boy is, decides to take him under his wing and make him his private enforcer. The general has the boy finish off that drug lord's cohort, in cold blood at the local infirmary.At that point, you know the movie is going to be a serious drama, not just an action flick. The movie jumps back & forth in time from the boy's youth to present days adulthood, effective process to convey Luisito's character. He is driven by the desire to deliver justice as a sort of contract cop for the general; the general dangles the connections and power he has to help Luisito get the drug lord who killed his father. Luisito nevertheless realizes the corrupt nature of the general and no longer wants to enforce what is not much more than a business shakedown of criminals with too many assassinations for Luisito's comfort zone. Luisito turns on the general and gets the drug lord who killed his father. He redeems himself in the end.

This movie is wick making characters credible, for instance, General Colon, a Police Chif of Santiago province, has the gut to send one of his officer to Washington Heights to steal the merchandise to Rafa (the drug dealer that killed Luisito's Father many years ago when visiting DR) leave him alive, them with the general's "influence" at the DEA make the Rafa deportation to DR possible in order to facilitate the Luisito's father revenge. I think even Generalisimo Trujillo, the bloody DR dictator, didn't have such power! In other hands Director fails with the overdose of the metaphoric use of the pigs images trying to simulate the dogs in "Amores Perros", the Bull of "Apocalypse" Now,the Chickens in "Los Olvidados" and "Cidade de Deus". Hermes -Mala Cotumbre-

I just saw La Soga (The Butcher's Son). It's by far the best film made in the Dominican Republic over the last 20 years (One-way Ticket, made in the 80s was also very good). Not a cheap extended sketch or an episode from a bad soap opera. It's excellent. You can't miss this movie. It would be difficult to find someone not affected profoundly by it, after watching it. Other Dominican "filmmakers" should take it as a model to learn how to shoot a good movie. This one shows it's possible to make good movies with low budget. It is much better than most Hollywood movies we commonly see in theaters. Here you never know what will happen next. It reminds us the film City of God that we saw a few years ago. There is never a dull moment. From beginning to end, the film fills us with different emotions. There is action, suspense, comedy, romance ... It's been a long time since we felt this good watching a film. This is one of the reasons why we love movies so much, but good ones.