Venezuelan Fear

Secuestro Express ,
Directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz 18

THIS film has split a nation.
Secuestro Express has become the most globally successful film from South America – and its portrayal of life in Venezuala has led to bitter arguments over how the country can fight street crime and seek to eradicate the poverty that drives it.
For that reason, this film is worth watching.
There are 14,000 violent deaths in the country linked to street crime every year – and a large number of these are kidnap victims.
Writer-director Jonathan Jakubowicz, himself a kidnap victim, tells the story of Carla and Martin, a couple snatched by a violent gang – and the shocking few hours that follow.
His film makes compelling viewing, despite its hide-your-eyes-behind-your-hands moments.
From the start, there is little feeling of sympathy for Martin: he is described as “high maintenance, old money,” suggesting he had not earned the right to be swanning around nightclubs with a beautiful girl on his arm.
Other twists make it clear to the viewer that you are not meant to feel too sorry for him – as opposed to the daughter of the doctor, who works for free as a volunteer in a public health clinic. It is a clumsy characterisation, but Jakubowicz justifies it by saying he is trying to make the film as accessible to as many people as he can.
At a recent screening in Islington’s Screen on the Green, he said: “If I had made some kind of turgid Proustian piece no one would have paid me attention.”