Overview
Harto the Borges is a documentary film by Eduardo Montes-Bradley. Harto the Borges explores the narcissistic side of Jorge Luis Borges, the author of El Aleph, his frequent and often criticized comments to the press, his distinctive and gentle ironies. Harto The Borges had a theatrical release in Buenos Aires in September 2000, and was well received by the critics. Since then has been frequently exhibited at forums, campuses, and film festivals. On October 4, 2011, Harto the Borges was presented at the University of Salamanca, and made available to the general audience in Argentina through the On Line version of Revista Cultura Ñ, (Diario Clarin) in Buenos Aires. The film was released alongside an article in which the director views the film ten years after its premier at the Cine Cosmos. The film is currently available in Vimeo. Harto the Borges was presented at the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, Havana, Cuba, 2000 and nominated for Premio Cóndor de Plata.
Synopsis
Borges emerges as a counterpoint to the interviewees, some of which evoke scandal and most of which cut through stereotypes and presuppositions surrounding this key figure. The title of the film is a direct reference to the poem "Borges and I", slightly modified to pay a tribute to the writer's billings. The strategy employed by Montes-Bradley when it comes to Borges, a writer of whom almost everything has been said, consists on giving the word to the writer himself and to a select group of intellectuals who dwell on the margins of the Argentine cultural aparatik. Montes-Bradley, however, does not exhibit Borges like a painting to be admired but rather as a counterpoint to the observations of others. We are neither the hapless witnesses of another saccharine celebration of Jorge Luis Borges, nor are we forced to endure another fashionable defrocking of an idol. The Borges that emerges from the interaction of the testimonies in this documentary surges from the heat of the debate, from the strong opinions, some certainly scandalous, most politically incorrect. On the tenth anniversary of its theatrical release, Montes-Bradley writes an opinion column on Diario Clarín with considerations about the film in retrospective.
Review and quotes
"El documental de Eduardo Montes Bradley Harto de Borges, con variados testimonios y material de
archivo, aporta una mirada crítica sobre la veneración al escritor. Sin embargo, en su afán desmitificador agiganta su fantasma."
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).