AzulOscuroCasiNegro

I was born in a life with fairly good conditions. I have an extended family and my father has worked a lot to provide for 7 people, and yet, never have I been forced to earn money in my childhood or during my teenage years, and never have I suffered from hunger. It has been my choice to take my own responsibilities, it was not a necessity for me to work even in my university years; I was one of the lucky ones, unlike Jorge in the movie, AzulOscuroCasiNegro.



AzulOscuroCasiNegro is a 2006 Spanish movie written and directed by Daniel Sanchez Arevalo. It tells the story of a young man, named Jorge, who works as a janitor, not because he chooses to, but because he simply has to. In the beginning of the film, a younger Jorge burns the garbage dumpster in front of a huge apartment building only to be found out by the janitor of the building and runs away. We quickly realize that the old janitor is his father, and the reason why he does such a thing is because he does not want end up like his father. However, his father suffers a heart attack right there, and Jorge's life changes, from choices, to obligations.

The movie then moves forward to seven years later, and we see that Jorge is now the janitor of the same building, has just earned a business degree and has been nursing his father ever since. Desperate to get out of his situation, he applies for many positions in various companies, but is always turned down for he does not have any experience aside from being a janitor. He spends his days working in the building, chatting with his best friend Israel in the roof of the building and every once in a while, visiting his older brother in jail. Antonio, Jorge's brother, falls in love with Paula, a beautiful young woman in jail on drug charges, who is constantly attacked by a gang of other women in jail for some men issues, and in order to get out of that situation, trying to get pregnant to be taken to maternity ward. Antonio tries to get her pregnant, however he soon finds out that he is sterile, thus, he asks the one person he can trust to get Paula pregnant, namely, his young brother Jorge. Being initially against the idea, Jorge soon accepts this task, reluctantly, just to help his dear brother. However, things are about to get all mixed up with the arrival of Natalia, Jorge's childhood crush, back to the building, Antonio, going out of prison and starting to live with Jorge and his father, and with an emotional bond growing between Paula and Jorge.


AzulOscuroCasiNegro is Daniel Sanchez Arevalo's first feature film. It means Dark Blue Almost Black, in English. It is a drama with a little blend of comedy that is brought not by the story but rather by the characters themselves. The story involves many sub-plots that are not all related to the main story, such as Israel's own issues with his father and his search for his true sexual identity, however, they all at one point lead to the main theme of acceptance of who these characters really are and the search for it; there are some things in life that we sooner or later have to accept, but we should constantly work hard to change the circumstances to reach what we really want in life and who we really want to be. These sub-plots cause the film have many main characters; it may be that Jorge is the center of it all and it is in fact his struggle that we watch in details throughout the course of the movie, however, the other characters are all very well studied that to some extent it is possible to say that they all get equal share to tell themselves within the story; thus, this multi-character nature of the film does not distract the viewer or destroy the story. We want to see Jorge reach his goals, but we also are equally curious of what is about to happen to Antonio after so many years in jail, or of somewhat funny struggle of Israel against his sexual tendencies, or if Paula will ever be able to get out of this living hell where she is constantly tortured. And in between all the misery and trouble, we see the soft tenderness, a beautiful love growing in one of the most unusual places, and out of unusual and perhaps even unpleasant circumstances, between Jorge and Paula; right in the center of the story, the two main characters and us, the audience, find an emotional asylum and hope for the future, where there seems to be theoretically no future or whatsoever.


What you get in the end of the film is not a very comfortable smile, but rather a hope for the beginning of a pleasant future, not a comfortable future again, however, we know that the characters, most of all Jorge, now know more or less who they are, and thus, will go on their struggles with their feet firmly on the ground. Better conditions?, well, it is open to discussion, but it is always better than fighting with false hopes.