Review of Herencia

Herencia (2001)
A super Porteño film
9 November 2002
We've lived in Buenos Aires, the location for Herencia, for almost two years, and enjoyed watching this film. Besides the short scenes where Peter and Luz visit the sites of the city, the film keeps itself to some of the lesser known, even seedier sections of the city, giving the viewer a different picture of this world class city.

One of the opening scenes is humorous, where Peter, following the address on the letter, arrives to find his lost love, only to find out that she lives an hour away....not unusual in a city of 12 or so million where many streets and areas have the same name. This happened recently to me: I followed some directions specifically, only to find out that another area, with the same names, was the area I needed.

Peter is also humorous trying to speak Spanish. He mixes the formal "you" or "usted", with the informal "you" or "tú", and then adds the informal Argentine "you" or "vos". He does this in the same sentence, to the same person! Ah, the joys of language learning.

BA is an international city, so unlike the traditional Latino world pictured by many of dark skinned, dark haired, Andean mountain type people. The story of two foreigners arriving to find new lives, new loves, and new pain, is common. One touching scene has Olinda finding an Italian newspaper and savoring an hour reading her native language.It eventually leads her back "home" to Italy, though much of her remains "porteño" (a resident of Buenos Aires).

I recommend this film. It is well scripted, directed and shows human compassion between two people making a new world their own.I walk the streets of BA every day, always feeling that I belong, and always feeling a bit foreign. At their core, so do Peter and Olinda.
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