On the last day, last show of Chennai Film Festival I went to see this Uruguay film at The Inox. Long queue to get in for the 6:30 PM show stretching all the way to elevators at City Centre I thought I won’t get a seat, but luckily I did and I got to enjoy this fine film.
The movie “The Delay” directed by Rodrigo Plá is about every day struggles of life in Uruguay cities. It is about a single mother with 3 kids working from home as a tailor for a big textile firm. She is left with taking care of her ageing father and gets no support from her sister on this. The welfare societies turn down her request for taking in her father due to her not being below the poverty line. One day while returning home with her father, at the spur of the moment she abandons her father in a park bench after asking him to wait there while she gets water. Going home anonymously she calls an orphanage to have the old man picked up, but when they go the old man turns them down saying his daughter will certainly come back to get him. The kids keep asking where is Grandpa and feeling remorse she searches for him throughout the city through the night. Finally finding him exactly where she left him, where he has only nice things to say to her.
Most of the scenes are taken pretty close up which intensifies our feelings towards the old man, who has acted brilliantly. At the last scenes where the old man on a cold night is out in the open shivering and without food, I could literally feel my own nose dry with cold.
A fine cinema, don’t miss it if you get a chance to watch it. Finally, after a week of world cinema, I couldn’t help but await next year Film festival!
#Uruguay #LatinAmerica #FatherlyLove
