Cuestion de Fe Film Difficulty Ranking: 3
- Dodgy drug boss: check
- Drunken protagonist: check
- High stakes gambling: check
If you’re thinking Cuestion de Fe is a B-movie action flick, you’d be wrong. Whilst it does contain all the elements above, Cuestion de Fe is more of a fun, easy going road trip film. If you’re up for joining a drunk artist, a hanger-on, and a hustler in their bright pink truck to travel across Bolivia, this film is for you. You can watch the film here on Vimeo (Spanish only).
Why Watch Cuestion de Fe?
- To see Bolivia!
- If you like any of the following road-trip movies: Motorcycle Diaries, Into the Wild, Y Tu Mama Tambien, or Thelma and Louise
- Learn how importance Catholicism is in Bolivia (hint: very)
- See the quickest ever on-screen sex scene and marriage
The Breakdown
Meet Domingo. He’s a craftsman who’s an expert at making statues of Catholic saints. But, he’s also a drunkard who uses his statues to barter for bottles of spirits at the bar next door.
One evening, a big drug boss from the Yungas (a region in the shadow of the Andes perfect from coca growing) pays Domingo’s local bar a visit. He wants Domingo to make him an exact replica of the Virgin featured in a local church. What’s more, he wants Domingo to deliver the statue to his town deep in the Yungas (a few days drive from them) within 12 days! Of course, it sounds impossible. But Domingo is the only person who could do it, and this drug boss is offering 80 million Bolivianos.
80 million Bolivianos is a very big sum of money, so of course Domingo says yes. He immediately gets to work with his friend and recruit a local hustler who offers to drive them to the Yungas. With the logistics sorted, can they make the statue and transport it in time?
Is it better to be a Statue or a Woman?
Like a lot of movies, Cuestion de Fe doesn’t pass the Bechdel test (that a film has to 1. have at least two women, 2. that talk to each other 3. about something other than a man). But, whilst you may not notice it, the subjugation of women in Cuestion de Fe isn’t great. There are only around 5 women in the film, all with minute roles. Here are the most memorable women in this film:
- A young woman sitting with 2 guys in the bar who returns Domingo’s stare and gets slapped by one of the guys, who is presumably her boyfriend, as a result.
- A prostitute who Domingo pays to keep him company at a pit stop
- The woman who Domingo’s hanger on instantly falls in love with and marries
In short, Cuestion de Fe does not show any independent women, they all rely on the male characters. In addition, the men don’t respect them or show them love.
When you contrast how the women are portrayed to the statue of the virgin that Domingo lovingly creates and looks after, I’d say that statues are treated better than the women in this film.
Conclusion and What to Watch Next
Cuestion de Fe truly is a fun movie to watch if you can either find a subtitled version or are quite good at Spanish. You’ll get to travel across Bolivia with a hilarious trio of oddballs, what more can you want!?
For more great road trip films you should check out:
- Motorcycle Diaries: charting the famous road trip Che Guevara took with his buddy across South America.
- Into the Wild: follow a recent graduate burn his money before roaming across the United States
- Y Tu Mama Tambien: a raunchy coming-of-age road trip across Mexico
- Thelma & Louise: one of Ridley Scott’s greatest films, a road race thriller which passes the Bechdel Test
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