Undertow

Movie: Undertow

Cast:    Christian Mercado      (Miguel)

            Tatiana Astengo          (Mariela)

Manolo Cardona         (Santiago)

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Miguel is a poor fisherman in a poor fishing village on the coast of Peru.  Mariela, his wife, is expecting their first child.  Santiago is a wealthy painter who visits the village every summer to paint.  It turns out that Miguel and Santiago have had a physical and emotional relationship for years.  When Santiago dies unexpectedly, his ghost lingers on – but only Miguel can see it.

We follow Miguel as he has to face the consequences of his actions and has to figure out what to do to put Santiago’s ghost to rest.

My two cents: An interesting movie.  I went in thinking it was a Peruvian ghost story – the part about gay lovers escaped me in the synopsis I read.  So . . . it caught me by surprise the first time the two guys fell, naked, into each other’s arms.  Miguel was forced to face up to his relationship with Santiago in order to save his relationship with his own wife.  I really enjoyed watching this struggle and seeing how the villagers did (or did not) support him.

If you don’t mind a lot of sub-titles (or if you speak Spanish), this is worth giving a try.

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