ALAMBRADO
(1991)
Director: Marco Bechis - Producers: Roberto Cicutto, Vincenzo De Leo - Executive Producer: Diana Frey - Production Company: An Aura Film/Oscar Kramer - Coproduction in collaboration with Raitre - Screenwriters: Lara Fremder and Marco Bechis - Cinematographer: Esteban Courtalon - Editors: Nino Baragli, Pablo Mari - Music: Jacques Lederlin - Principal Cast: Jacqueline Lustig, Martin Kaiwill, - Arturo Maly, Matthew Marsh, Enrique Ahriman.
Italy/Argentina.
Shown in competition at the 1991 Locarno Film Festival.
In Patagonia, a few kilometers from the Strait of Magellan, a relentless wind blows relentlessly all year round. Here, in the middle of nowhere, a timber cottage by the ocean is home to Harvey Logan, an elderly antiquarian of Scottish descent, and his two teenage children: Eva - a restless and sensual seventeen-year-old, and Juan - an introverted, taciturn thirteen-year-old, with an unhealthy attachment to his sister. Both dream of escaping. One day an Englishman called Wilson arrives in the village, wanting to buy Logan's land on behalf of a multinational. The father decides to erect a long wire fence, an alambrado. His efforts to protect his land, however, will end in tragedy.
PRESS
From Patagonia, one of the best debuts of recent years.
Morando Morandini, Il Giorno
Metaphor and reality blend perfectly in this debut work, proof of a talent capable of encompassing vast open spaces, with a vision that recalls both Antonioni and Flaherty at different times.
Tullio Kezich, Corriere della Sera
The film has originality, solid visual and dramatic quality, and excellent, well-cast actors, among whom the young Jacqueline Lustig stands out for her extraordinary expressive and sensual qualities.
Lietta Tornabuoni, La Stampa
Bechis's debut is good, an affirmation of a sensuality almost unprecedented in film.
Enzo Siciliano, l'Espresso
Bechis directs this bitter and desperate story of obstinacy and loneliness with a measured maturity that is surprising in the work of a newcomer.
Irene Bignardi, La Repubblica
A triumphant exploration of a place un-touched by time, The Fence is ever explosive.
Catherine Schulman, Sundance Film Festival 1993