A chilling study in obsession and violence, set against the backdrop of Pinochet's totalitarian Chile in the late '70's. Raul (Alfredo Castro) is a pathological serial killer and amoral petty thief who is obsessed with John Travolta's character from the movie Saturday Night Fever. He watches the film daily and mouths the dialogue, and even tries to copy his mannerisms. As an homage to the film he is also mounting a dance routine in the small cantina where he works. Raul is the type who sees something he wants and takes it by any means possible, whether it be a colour TV or even his girl friend's sexually precocious daughter. He enters a TV competition to find Chile's Tony Manero lookalike, and takes care of one of his rivals in typically nasty fashion. Dressed in his gaudy white suit, Raul looks less like John Travolta and more like a seedy Al Pacino circa Scarface. But his selfish obsession towards these superficial distractions and his willingness to live in an unrealistic fantasy world blind him to the very real perils of Chile, where death squads roam the streets and plains clothes police snatch people off the streets. Raul is a repellent character, and Castro, who co-wrote the film with director Pablo Larrain, makes no attempt to garner sympathy for him. Larrain's direction is restrained and understated, which makes the grim reality of Raul's environment somehow seem more menacing.
Review of Tony Manero
