Tregua

Rating:
Summary: Under all the Suds of this Soap there is a Good Story
Review: Apparently Uruguayan writer Mario Benedetti produced a fine novel by the name of LA TREGUA and the story was so popular that Alfonso Rosas Priego adapted it, rather weakly, into this Mexican film, TREGUA ("The Truce"). Despite many exasperatingly poor aspects (not the least of which is the overpowering ever-present tawdry musical score by Amparo Rubin, a soupy mix of piano, voices and innumerable electronic keyboards) there are some redeeming factors that make watching this little film worthwhile.

The story? Martin Santome (Gonzalo Vega) is a widower turning 60, approaching retirement with some dread as his home life is fraught with discontent: he is bored, has no interest in socializing, and lives with his three children - plain-Jane Blanca (Maite Embil), haughty and obnoxious Esteban (Arath de la Torre, and closeted gay Jaime (Rodrigo Vidal). Just when his life is at its lowest point Martin encounters Laura (Adriana Fonseca), a beautiful 24-year-old woman with secrets of her own, who has just started to work in his office. Despite all the social attitudes against it, Martin softens and falls in love with the incandescent Laura, making a truce with his feeling that love has abandoned him in favor of old age. The reaction of his family is mixed but eventually each of his children make their own transformations and Martin and Laura plan to marry. A tragedy ensues and the promises of Martin's truce are altered and it is the way this change affects Martin's life and family that draws this story to a close.

The work of Gonzalo Vega and Adriana Fonseca and Maite Embil make this disjointed, raggle taggle jumble of a movie worth watching. They make us believe in the unbelievable. The director tells his tale through fragmentary scenes poorly held together by bad editing, and with excessively drawn out lovemaking scenes between Martin and Laura that move this story into the 'novella' category of TV soap opera. The movie is in Spanish with poorly translated English subtitles. The underlying story about May-December romances is worth telling and the actors try to make it work with dignity. The trappings get in their way. Grady Harp, January 2005