The Honorary Consul (1983)

Emotive political, drama, thriller set in the border between Argentina, Paraguay dealing with a twisted love story and an intrigue behind. It is set during the rule of cruel right wing military dictatorships commanded by Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay and General Videla in Argentina. It concerns a doctor called Eduardo : Richard Gere , he is a half-English and half-Paraguay man who becomes involved with the revolutionary guerrilla : A. Martinez , and a former priest played by Joaquin de Almeida. He returns to work in the little town of Corrientes . Eduardo quickly starts forming new acquaintance such as the English honorary consul : Michael Caine , he is a drunk man married to a beautiful Argentinian wife , an ex-whore : Elpidia Carrillo. Then Eduardo seduces her and both of whom fall in love .Things go wrong when Eduardo is asked for help the rebels to kidnap the US Ambassador to force the Paraguayan Junta release political inmates , including Eduardo's father.Entertaning but cold and slow film with a central theme, a triangular romance and political details about South American dictatorships in which a doctor eventually must confront moral conflicts and the complex relationship with an alcoholic consul , at the same time the dirty war , tortures, kidnap, political upheaval and riots take place . Passable acting by Richard Gere as an England/Paraguay doctor who has a passionate as well as risked affaire and excellent Michael Caine as the cynical older diplomat who befriends to him while disagree over politics and about an attractive young latina girl, the newcomer Elpidia Carrillo . But the film relies heavily on the relation between the protagonist and his lover that reaches some strong problems connected with the alcoholic honorary consul .This is the second and worst rendition based on the prestigious novel by Graham Greene , first and the best was The Quiet Man 1958 by Joseph L Mankiewicz with Michael Redgrave , Audie Murphy, Giorgia Moll , Claude Dauphin , Bruce Cabot and third retelling was The Quiet Man 2002 by Phillip Noyce with Brendan Fraser , Thi Hai , Tzi Ma, Rade Serbedzija and Michael Caine himself. And this second version by John McKenzie written by Christopher Hampton who also wrote the 2002 remake , it boasts a nice cast with special mention for Bo Hoskins as a brutal Colonel who pursues and tortures rebels . It displays an atmospheric cinematography by Phil Meheux , though a perfectly remastering being absolutely necessary. And an evocative musical score by Stanley Myers , including South American sounds . The motion picture was regular but profesionally directed by John Mckenzie , being nominated for two Bafta Film Awards . John was an expert on thriller and drama such as Blue heat, Ruby , The infiltrator , The innocent , A hinge of freedom, Act of vengeance , Quicksand , Made , Voyage , When sky falls , Aldrich Ames traitor within . His greatest hits were Long god friday and Fourth protocol . Rating : 6 . Average but passable and acceptable. The picture will appeal to Richard Gere and Michael Caine fans..

This is an average pot-boiler from the Graham Greene novel, and although it was better than I originally remembered when watching it again recently, it certainly isn't at all memorable. That said, there are some welcome production values and the cast are worth watching. It's essentially a Richard Gere vehicle - at least in terms of the American market, and he plays an English-born Paraguayan called Dr Eduardo Plarr. Gere is an intriguing actor, or at least certainly was in the eighties. Bear in mind this performance came just a year on from his breakthrough role in An Officer And A Gentleman and you can still see the raw, almost nervous tension in his execution, and he certainly favours the minimalist approach. It's almost as if he's determined to become more than the beefcake Hollywood obviously wants him to be. Despite this assumption, however, Gere still has the obligatory love making scenes although I'm convinced when he first beds Elpidia Carrillo's character Clara, his helpful grunts are way out of sync with his theatrical pelvic thrusts. If Gere does seem to be a little uncomfortable in front of camera, then it's probably because in most scenes (the bedroom ones aside of course) he is either facing Michael Caine or Bob Hoskins. In his position, I think I would have stayed as quiet as possible, and it must have been a daunting scenario for the then 34 year old just fresh from box office success. His accent as well is all over the place. At times there is a distinct English twang to it, but then it slips into Amercian and even flirts with South American when faced with scenes with the locals. Bob Hoskins, of course, shows everyone how it should be done. Hoskins has never been afraid to take on any accent, and here he is the local chief of police, with successful results. Some critics have said that Hoskins was miscast in this film, but I strongly disagree. His demeanour throughout and the convincing accent I think contribute to an all round excellent pitch, although this is probably helped by the comfort of teaming up with director John Mackenzie again, just four years on from The Long Good Friday. The reason I think that Hoskins is so convincing here is that as he is, in physical terms, not the tallest actor on screen, he nevertheless carries weight because of his position and the corruptibility it potentially brings with it. And then there is Michael Caine. Yet again, Caine is playing a drunk, whose only passion in life seems to be the whisky bottle. As already explained earlier, Caine's legendary depiction of 'drunks' was peerless in the eighties. As an exercise in this very matter, I looked into how many 'drunk' roles he has played, and counted post-Zulu, no less than seven (I am counting Last Orders as many of the scenes were set at closing time in a pub). The best scene in this entire movie comes when Caine is at the wheel of his car whilst the US Ambassador (George Belanger) has stopped to take in the local scenic backdrops. He looks up aghast when spotting Caine sipping from a hip flask. Realising he has been rumbled, Caine swiftly raises a coke bottle to his lips within seconds, expertly switching beverages in the same take and without a blip. Ironically, this scene also has great resonance regarding the second part of the movie. I think the film is also pitched right at 102 minutes. Any longer and the plot would have become drawn out and the audience would fidget. Not a classic then, but a decent enough attempt by all concerned.

Intriguing music and lighting choices with some good camera movement and angles keep this film relatively interesting on an audio and visual level. However, they do not compensate for the film having quite a limited story of just a lightly developed romance during political unrest. There are political themes and morality issues in it, however they are not too well explained. It is also far too slowly paced, dragging between the story action. It is not a bad film though, and it is arguably interesting to watch… however it misses the mark for greatness. Despite Caine and Hoskins receiving BAFTA nominations for their roles, it is Gere who delivers the most effectively.

Competent adaptation of a typical Graham Greene story, a tale of moral dilemma, forgiveness and redemption in a quasi-fascist South America. Direction and acting are ordinary, although Michael Caine and Richard Gere are at least well cast; Bob Hoskins (an Argentinian policeman!) less so. Not badly done, but slightly detached; Greene packs a bigger punch on the page.