Paraguayan Hammock
Hamaca Paraguaya

Argentina , Austria , France , Germany , Netherlands , Spain , Paraguay, 2006, 76 min
In Guarini with English subtitles

Directed By: Paz Encina
Writer: Paz Encina
Producers: Marianne Slot, Lita Stantic, Ilse Hughan
Cast: Ramón del Río, Georgina Genes

A subtle cinematic requiem for a country and its dispossessed people, Paz Encina's emotionally devastating debut is also the first feature-length film to come out of Paraguay since the '70s. Following its premiere last year at Cannes, Paraguayan Hammock has been widely hailed for its rigorously minimalist aesthetic: extremely long takes with a fixed camera record quotidian outdoor scenes and thereby manage to imbue seemingly mundane events with ineffable gravity. Regarding her austere method, Encina has remarked, “I decided that each image would last as long as it was necessary to fully express itself, and not as long as others needed to look at it.”

In the rural countryside sometime in the 1930s, a married peasant couple (nonprofessional actors Ramón del Río and Georgina Genes) go about their regular routines while waiting with stoic resignation for their only son to return from the front lines of the far-off Chaco War with Bolivia. Encina's innovative soundtrack, especially the poetic weave of voiceover dialogue, supplies a modicum of narrative information—just enough story for the audience to understand the heartbreaking predicament of the film's central characters. An undeniably bold formal experiment, Paraguayan Hammock also serves as an unflinching testament to a nation's profound sense of loss and remarkable capacity for perseverance.
 - Jesse Zigelstein

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