The movie
El Principe
After stabbing a former friend, young Jaime is imprisoned and forced to negotiate the violent ways of life inside.
Length: 96 min
Country: Argentina, Chile
Language spoken: Spanish
Language subtitles: Dutch
Cast: Alfredo Castro, Juan Carlos Maldonado, Gastón Pauls
Director: Sebastian Muñoz
Release date: 2019
Description
Chile, 1970: After stabbing a former friend, young Jaime (handsome newcomer Juan Carlos Maldonado) is imprisoned and forced to negotiate the violent ways of life inside. Confined to a cell with four other men—and only one bunk bed—Jaime quickly sees the lie of the land and starts to lay the groundwork for his ascension to his role as ‘The Prince’ (the English title). Being gay, he also finds that prison life affords many sexual and romantic opportunities that the decidedly homophobic ‘free’ society does not…
‘Juan Carlos Maldonado commands the screen with brooding intensity as the dangerously impulsive title character… Inspired by Jean Genet’s sensual gay arthouse classic Un Chant D’Amour, Muñoz’s Spanish-language prison saga finds beauty among the shifting alliances and dilapidated concrete walls. Nearly every frame of Enrique Stindt’s cinematography… rewards the eye with artful composition and details of the period production and costume design. The camera doesn’t turn away from the ugliness of violence, nor from the homoerotic pull of copious male nudity…’—André Hereford, MetroWeekly
‘Juan Carlos Maldonado commands the screen with brooding intensity as the dangerously impulsive title character… Inspired by Jean Genet’s sensual gay arthouse classic Un Chant D’Amour, Muñoz’s Spanish-language prison saga finds beauty among the shifting alliances and dilapidated concrete walls. Nearly every frame of Enrique Stindt’s cinematography… rewards the eye with artful composition and details of the period production and costume design. The camera doesn’t turn away from the ugliness of violence, nor from the homoerotic pull of copious male nudity…’—André Hereford, MetroWeekly
