A hippopotamus that came from Africa to the Colombian estate of drug lord Pablo Escobar is the narrator of the Golden Bear-nominated film “Pepe” by Nelson Carlos de los Santos Arias. “This story reminds us of historical emigration to both Americas,” said the director in Berlin.
In the first sequence of the film, we watch documentary snapshots recorded in 1993, just after the death of the Colombian “cocaine king” Pablo Escobar, considered one of the most wealthy criminals in history. In addition to his fortune, estimated at $30 billion, the criminal left behind four hippos, which he brought to South America from Africa in the 1980s. Over time, the group grew to several hundred individuals, which began to pose a threat to the local natural environment. The state authorities announced population control by sterilization, giving the animals to other countries or – as a last resort – euthanizing them.
When one of the hippos, called Pepe, separated from the herd, he was shot by hunters. It is this animal that is given the voice by Nelson Carlos de los Santos Arias. The story of a peculiar narrator begins in Africa, where he lived with his family, becoming an attraction for European tourists. The hippos were taken from there by suspicious people acting on the boss’s orders. The men were instructed that in the event of a police check, they should not open the box and claim that they were transporting pigs. It was not an easy journey, but the animals reached the Napoles hacienda located in Puerto Triunfo. On the screen, Pepe reflects on animals and people. He doesn’t see the latter in bright colors.
The Dominican filmmaker’s film defies classification, drifting from a nature documentary, through animation, to a social drama. In fact, it says little about the situation in Colombia. “I didn’t really want to relate to her. I don’t think I should be talking about this problem. Today everything becomes politicized. Every country has some unresolved issues that become political. Let’s be honest, they come back every four years. In Colombia, such topics include hippos because they bring to mind a drug gang. They have become part of a political campaign, and that is certainly not something I would like to get involved in,” he said in Berlin during a press conference accompanying the film’s premiere.
Nelson Carlos de los Santos Arias is more interested in nature and symbolism than in politics. “Everything that emanates from this story that reminds me of the historic emigration from Africa to the Americas. I thought about this place, the ecological processes taking place there, and the movement. Colombia has huge water resources. In Africa, there is a shortage of this water, which means that animals are condemned to death. Pepe is an animal that escaped and lived in the mountains. I come from the Dominican Republic, so I always think about history first. Of course, even if I didn’t want to make a film about Colombia, the action takes place in this country, so the film will always be perceived through this prism. Anyway, I would like to present this film in Colombia and listen to what people say about it,” said the creator.
Recalling the work on the script, the director explained that it was largely intuitive. “I usually wonder what feelings are associated with a given area, and then I do research in the field of social sciences, ethnography, and aesthetics. As a filmmaker, I come from experimental cinema, and such people are like animators. We test and see where the limits are. We also work frame by frame. This is what experimental cinema is all about. This is not just a shaky camera, but a complex technical work. We are preparing very thoroughly. We do a lot of work in advance and carefully consider the content of the film. Knowing the territory is essential. Also because some of the cast are unprofessional actors who have no knowledge of how to work on the set. Some of them can’t even read. There are many characters in this film and each of them actually has their own method of organizing their work. I believe that they do it in such a way as to understand their characters as best as possible,” he emphasized.
The director admitted that he had planned to make “Pepe” earlier, but the coronavirus pandemic prevented it. “I started writing the script at the end of 2019. Then the world stopped. Thanks to this, the text grew. Once it was ready, I started looking for the narrator’s voice. I tried to record it myself, but it sounded more like Darth Vader. I said to myself: son, this is not your job, you are not the right person to do voices. I found great actors from Africa and South America. We all waited until we could start working. In March 2021, we got the green light. I returned to the script after a long break to check what I actually wrote in it. Does this sound credible? The real dialogues appeared after the casting, during which we considered how to tell this story with words,” he pointed out.
“Pepe” is one of the 20 titles nominated for the Golden Bear at the 74th Berlinale. The best film of the festival will be announced on Saturday during a gala held at the Berlinale Palast. It will be selected by: Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o (chairman of the jury), American actor, screenwriter and director Brady Corbet, Hong Kong director and screenwriter Ann Hui, German director and screenwriter Christian Petzold, Spanish director Albert Serra, Italian actress Jasmine Trinca and Ukrainian writer and poet Oksana Zabuzhko.
From Berlin Daria Porycka (PAP)
author: Daria Porycka
dap/ wj/