Simon-Lersen

Simon (Venezuela/United States, 2023) An independent film produced with donor input and with a budget of less than $1 million. Perhaps this is what made its existence possible, because it is an isolated case in the history of contemporary cinema when it denounces the atrocities of the Venezuelan dictatorship. While First World progressivism spends millions supporting films that condemn the continent's former dictatorships or have a highly critical view of the central states in relation to them, the Venezuelan people have seen how no one in the international film community cares about them. Their country and the massive displacement they were subjected to. It is easier to find directors saying that the United States lives in an undemocratic country than to find them condemning Chavez and Maduro and their bloody governments.

The film shows the protests in Venezuela, where Simon (Christian McGavney) and his fellow fighters are detained and tortured. Simon fled to Miami and is now seeking to be accepted as a refugee there, although the thought of not returning to his country hurts him as well. If he stays in Miami he feels as if he has betrayed them, but if he returns his life is in great danger from those searching for him. Simon The film's events take place mostly in Miami, where the young man's struggles and inner conflicts take place. Painful memories show us what he experienced in Venezuela. Melissa (Jana Nawarchi), a young humanitarian aid worker, will do whatever she can to help Simone. You will discover the humanitarian catastrophe the country is experiencing at the same time as you will learn about Simon and everything he has been through. It may be nothing new to the viewer, but seeing it in a feature film traveling the world is a breath of fresh air.

The film is well acted and makes the most of its limited resources, so much so that information about its limited budget is read in the news, but not seen in the film. It contains several scenes of suspense and very painful drama, and it is very touching to see the scenes that cinema has always captured to talk about certain dictatorships, but did not even try to do so with this current disaster. The film is captivating and moving. His speech can be analyzed politically as well as narratively. But as a complaint it delivers and as a film too. I hope I can open the eyes of those who make films, in Venezuela and the United States as well as in Argentina. Simon He has another additional discovery: It's not the classic movie that tries to lower the line by saying that people in the First World live much worse than they do in the Third World. The United States is not a nightmare, but a real refuge. Even so, the film keeps adding points that make it unique.