EVERYBODY HAS A PLAN/ TODOS TENEMOS UN PLAN

Argentina, 2012, 118 minutes, Colour.
Viggo Mortensen,

Viggo Mortensen has the opportunity here to portray identical twins. Not that the two characters appear in many sequences together, but they certainly do look very much alike and the plot counts on the fact that most people can accept one as the other.

It’s a serious story, very serious and rather dour and grim, even gloomy. The setting is a delta in Argentina, not the exuberant vitality of Buenos Aires, music and dance, but a quite dingy world of river, islands, remote town, a centre for abductions and ransoms.

One of the brothers lives in the delta, a beekeeper, helped by a young woman, Rosa, but caught up in the schemes of boyhood friend, Adriano. When an abduction goes wrong, it will have repercussions for both brothers. The other twin is a doctor in the city who experiences something of a breakdown.

Audiences will anticipate quite early what is going to happen and waits to see if they are right. And, they may get a little impatient, because the pacing of the film is very measured (slow would be the complaint of action-wanting audiences).

Mortensen gives an effective performance. Some have suggested he gives three performances: one brother, the other brother, and the brother acting as the other. But, there are some plot puzzles, especially in the brothers and their relationship to Rosa (they over fifty and she just twenty).

There is an Argentinia current of very serious, slowly-paced dramas which feature at international festivals. This is one of those films.
1. An Argentinian story? Hispanic sensibility? Tone, pace? Score?
2. The title, as applying to each of the brothers? Adriano and other characters?
3. Argentinian settings, the delta, the island, the weather, the houses? The town and the stores? The contrast with the city, the hospital?
4. The opening with the beehive, the images of the hive, the bees and their sound, Pedro and Rosa, their work, the issue of the queen bee, replacing her, the honey production? A symbol for the plot?
5. Pedro and Adriano, past friendship, Ruben and his being the godchild? Adriano going to the store, clash with the storekeeper, the purchase? Using Ruben for the abduction? The 1000 pesos bet as to whether he would arrive on time? The boat, the blindfold not fixed? But Adriano killing the man? Hiding the gun with Pedro?
6. And the police, the investigations?
7. The background of kidnappings, ransoms, the newspaper headlines?
8. Augustin, his work as a doctor, pleasant, at the school, his reaction to the children and their fighting, unable to move? An indication of breakdown, tension? At home, married, his wife and the plans for adoption, the information, his not wanting to adopt? The clash, locking himself in his room? His wife leaving?
9. Pedro’s phone call, Claudia answering, his arrival, talking with his brother, memories of the past, playing with Adriano, mischief in the past? The discussion about the book and its ownership? Pedro and his cancer, the bath, spitting blood? His wanting to die, for a Augustin to kill him? The sudden impulse, the shower curtain and Augustin smothering him?
10. Augustin becoming Pedro, his appearance, return home, people’s reaction, Ruben talking with him, the fishing? Rosa, the relationship, the credibility of this relationship at Augustin’s age and his past relationship with his wife? Differences and thinking he had reformed, doing ordinary things?
11. Adriano’s return, wanting the money and the gun, the 1000 pesos debt and his paying? his new plans, the relationship with Rosa, in the past, his wanting her, treatment of her? His despising Ruben? The plan for the new abduction, scouting it out?
12. Rosa, the new job in the supermarket, Adriano and his advances, her love for Augustin, discovering who he really was?
13. Augustin, arrested by the police, the search, in jail, his release?
14. The burning of Adriano’s house, his revenge?
15. Claudia, her visit, Augustin pretending, her knowing the truth, her anger?
16. Adriano, using Rosa and collecting the ransom money, the gun, the confrontation with Augustin, Adriano knowing who he was, taunting him about the past, spoilt, weak?
17. Adriano holding Rosa, Augustin, the machete, the gun, the moves of the attack, the fight, Augustin slashing, his being shot? Rosa and her trying to cope? Augustin dying, asking for Rosa’s love?
18. The abducted girl, tied up, her fears, later release?
19. And grim film and, in many ways, and gloomy film?