Pepe
(Dominican Republic/Namibia/Germany/France, 122 min.)
Dir. Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias
Programme: Wavelengths (North American premiere)
Inspiration tends to come from the unlikeliest of places. For Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias, the Dominican Republic filmmaker found his creative breakthrough during a visit to Colombia. On his trip, he decided to meet up with former classmate and friend, filmmaker Camilo Restrepo. When he entered Restrepo’s living room, he found a peculiar diorama: a group of green army men stood around a hippopotamus figurine. Confounded by the makeshift installation, de los Santos Arias listened keenly to Restrepo’s explanation of his model.
Restrepo shared the tragic tale of a hippopotamus herd that was forcefully taken from its African homeland. The senseless act was perpetrated by drug lord Pablo Escobar. In the aftermath of his arrest, a lost hippo named Pepe was displaced and later exiled from his herd. Hippo havoc circulated local news media, which resulted in the inevitable killing of the endangered animal. De los Santos Arias saw similarities to other postcolonial narratives within Restrepo’s informal telling. A timeless tale about colonialism expanded from his curiosity piqued by the plastic figurines.
In de los Santos Arias’ award-winning hippopotamus epic Pepe, a story about power and ecological colonisation takes centre-stage. Through his radical direction, de los Santos Arias forces the spectator to empathise with the titular hippo. Incorporating anthropomorphised narration from the hippopotamus cast, the deep and ominous voice performances enhance Pepe’s elliptical vision. Actors Jhon Narváez, Matjila Fareed, Harmony Ahalwa, and Shifafure Faustinus voice the film’s protagonist in three different languages. The voice of Pepe is personified through Spanish, Afrikaans, and Mbukushu dialogue as the film begins with an indigenous dialect. The different linguistic backgrounds represent the colonised nationalities of the sentient protagonist.
The provocative narration is accompanied with an insatiable pastiche. The film alternates between Super 16mm film-stock, digital RED cameras, and night-vision surveillance footage. The wide array of formats and aspect ratios are interwoven within the languid chronology.
The implementation of a fictional Hanna-Barbera inspired cartoon also comments on the mythologization of the hippopotami phenomenon. The filmmaker positions the fictionalised animated programme in the background of his familiar conflicts. The incorporation of media demonstrates the duplicity of mass-consumed entertainment within the region, as Pepe’s innocent visage evolves into a distortion of a hidden colonial truth. In the process, the expressionistic direction embodies the film’s themes of connectivity. One form of colonial violence leads to a domino-chain of death in de los Santos Arias’ narrative. The poetic form reflects on the consequences of the senseless violence.
The director also cleverly infuses documentary within his vanguard production. Reappropriating nature footage of real-life hippopotami that currently reside along the Magdalena River in Colombia, Pepe deliriously shows the present-day ramifications of Escobar’s greed through miscellaneous scenes involving the wandering animals. In the context of the film, the footage personifies Pepe’s lonesome final days before his inevitable killing. The stories of the past mingle with the consequences of the present. By mixing real footage with historical fiction, de los Santos Arias respectfully comments on the aftermath of Escobar’s reign that currently affects the ecological sustainability of the land.
As an outsider looking inwards, de los Santos Arias’ experimental piece reflects on the colonial history of Colombian land. The external perspective tackles the subject matter without hyper-fixating on precise historical detail. Pepe’s tragic story isn’t mutually exclusive to Colombian soil. De los Santos Arias wants his audience to think beyond the literality of his historical re-telling. His skillful direction allows the viewer to seek multi-faceted meanings within the fluid framework. The film’s avant-garde traditions playfully provoke and test the boundaries of contemporary cinema to new heights. Pepe is a cinematic achievement that goes above and beyond its alluring premise.
