Caracas: Love Unto Death (Gustavo Balza, 2000)

There are lots of subtleties in this Venezuelan film and first effort from Gustavo Balza. We get a sense of the terrain: street violence, Catholicism, corrupt police, music, large apartment complexes, family dynamics, absent fathers and very present priests. We enter a family where unplanned pregnancies are a pattern and now a new generation of unplanned children is about to begin through the pregnancy of Aixa. Her grandmother, who has raised her, is encouraging abortion and confers with her doctor who is contemplating whether he will do this. Her priest fights against it. The father of the child is a street thug and murderer. He and his partner are always at the outskirts of this film, and yet it is their actions that have brought the family, the doctor, and the priest to deal with much deeper issues. The film gives us clues relating to the past lives of central characters, but does not fully flesh those out, and that is fine. There is no time to fully dwell on the past in this world where the present is demanding the attention of all. Balza presents a rich tapestry of interwoven story lines all building to an unexpected end.