''Bad Company'' ( es, Malayunta) is a 1986

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by

José Santiso José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

and starring

Federico Luppi Federico Luppi (; February 23, 1936 – October 20, 2017) was an Argentine-Spanish film, TV, radio and theatre actor. He won numerous awards throughout his acting career, including a Concha de Plata at the San Sebastian International Film Fest ...

, Bárbara Mújica and

Miguel Ángel Solá Miguel Ángel Solá Vehil (born May 14, 1950) is an Argentine actor who has made over 60 film appearances in film and TV in Argentina since 1973. Biography Born in Buenos Aires, Solá belongs to the Vehil's dynasty of actors, eight generations ...

. The film is based on a play by Jacobo Langsner called ''Pater noster'', which premiered in

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

in 1977 and was first staged in Argentina in 1981 by

Teatro Abierto Teatro may refer to: * Theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific p ...

. The film is a "thinly veiled allegory of life under a dictatorship" and treats the topic of the

Dirty War The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...

by denouncing "the complicity of large sectors of the civil population with the military." It earned praise as "the most profound, disturbing, uncompromising, and novel of all the films of the new democratic period to examine the years of terror."

Synopsis

An impoverished middle-class couple rents a room in an apartment from an artist. However, the artist, who leads a debauched lifestyle, imposes restrictions on the couple, such as prohibiting them from cooking and disturbing their sleep with his nocturnal activities. Surprisingly, the artist charges them an exorbitant rent that covers the entire apartment. When the husband is attacked by a deranged individual who appears to be the artist's brother, a turning point occurs. The couple seizes control of the apartment and restrains the artist to a chair using barbed wire. In an attempt to reform his unhealthy lifestyle (consisting mainly of bread and milk), they force him to consume red meat. Ultimately, they resort to dismembering him. As the narrative unfolds, the audience's perspective evolves: their initial sympathy for the couple gives way to the realization that they symbolize the complicit Argentinian bourgeoisie, complicit in the "systematic slaughter of some 30,000 students, trade unionists, schoolteachers, and others accused of being 'terrorists.'"

Cast

as Bernardo *

Bárbara Mujica Bárbara Mujica (née Bárbara Moinelo Múgica; stage name Barbara Moinelo; Buenos Aires, March 13, 1944 - Buenos Aires, August 1, 1990) was an Argentine film, stage, and television actress of the 1960s and 1970s. Her mother was the actress Alb ...

as Amalia *

as Néstor * Edgardo Moreira as Puppeteer * Florencia Firpo as Angelita * Jorge Petraglia as Blind Man * Silvia Milet * Susana Nova * Jorge Capobianco * Martín Droso * Gianni Fiori * Mónica Lacoste * Laura Orgambide * Rubén Santagada

References

External links

*
''Malayunta''

Cinenacional.com Cinenacional.com is a web portal and World Wide Web, web-based database about Cinema of Argentina, Argentine cinema. It is the most comprehensive site for information about the Argentine film industry, with a vast array of information on films, tel ...

1986 films 1986 drama films Allegory Argentine films based on plays 1980s Spanish-language films Argentine drama films 1980s Argentine films {{1980s-Argentina-film-stub