El Metodo

It is almost impossible for a political film to be absorbing and convincing when from the very beginning it lets its audience know what it is trying to say and how it is going to say it. Narrative fiction relies very much on a conceit—that is, at least for the moment, believed to be real. What the conceit is not there, it is more conducive to analysis than absorption. The best example for this is the plays by Bertolt Brecht. The Argentine director Marcelo Pinyero’s film “The Grönholm Method (El Método)” is one of the rare narratives that is clear in its objectives and analysis yet thoroughly absorbing in its characters and story. As much as Brecht protested against empathy, his best plays are absorbing in the same way. Without a certain level of empathy, it is difficult to access the story; and, the alienation effect is best used to control this empathy from overwhelm reason. While "El Método" has much less alienation than Brecht may like, it does achieve enough of a distance for the audience to apply their critical thinking.