Release Date: 9/23/2003 Original Release: 1997 Format: DVD Length: 128 minutes Rating:R (MPAA) Rating Reason: For language and some violent images UPC: 043396094482 Studio: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainm
Taking a vacation from his profitable private practice, a distinguished Latin American doctor (Federico Luppi) sets off on a quest to locate his former students, whom he trained and deployed throughout the disease-ridden rural regions of their unnamed country. Once he steps outside his comfortable milieu, he realizes the depths of despair rural villagers live in, as power-mad, gun-toting soldiers and guerrillas vie for control of the countryside. Gradually stripped of his former idealism, he collects a motley group of pilgrims in search of a legendary village untouched by men with guns.
Director John Sayles, who had just finished LONE STAR, one of his most acclaimed films, shot the film in Spanish, a commercially risky maneuver. The decision pays off in the greater authenticity of the film, which captures the absurd circumstances in which the country's rural population must live. Partially inspired by Francisco Gold's novel THE LONG NIGHT OF WHITE CHICKENS, MEN WITH GUNS touches on the genre of magical realism to present a harrowing portrait of a war-torn Latin American country.
DVD Features
Region 1 Keep Case Widescreen - 1.85 Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 - Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 - Spanish Additional Release Material: Trailers Audio Commentary: John Sayles - Director
