''What Happened to Santiago'' (, ) is a 1989 Puerto Rican

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

written and directed by

Jacobo Morales Jacobo Morales (born 12 November 1934) is a Puerto Rican actor, poet, writer, playwright, filmmaker, and author born in Puerto Rico.Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. In 2011 AMPAS revised its rules to make films from U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico ineligible for the Foreign Language Film award.

Plot

Santiago, a widowed man, visits his wife's grave at the cemetery. Near a movie filming location, Santiago encounters a mysterious woman. She is very pleasant and engages him in conversation. They exchange gifts, but upon parting ways, she leaves without revealing her name, leaving Santiago to ponder if he will ever see her again. They cross paths once more, and the woman, now identified as Angelina, continues to be amiable. Angelina discloses that she has been observing Santiago and mentions witnessing him mailing a letter to someone. Santiago frequently argues with his daughter, primarily because she is undergoing a divorce, which he opposes. Later, during a dispute between his daughter and her husband in the presence of their young son, Santiago distracts the boy with conversation about snow, reminiscing about the only time he witnessed snow when it was airlifted to

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. Santiago searches for employment but faces disinterest from an interviewer due to his age. During their third encounter, Santiago and Angelina enjoy traditional guitar music and dancing. They later take a boat ride through a waterway in a park. Angelina exudes constant cheerfulness. Meanwhile, Santiago's daughter remains contentious. At the airport, she informs Santiago of her plans to move to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

for three months, leaving her son with her husband. However, her husband fails to show up, prompting her to leave the child with Santiago before departing. As Santiago leaves with his somber grandson, the boy's father arrives to collect him. One day, Santiago receives an unexpected call from Angelina on his landline. He had not given her his number, and she explains that she had to call every person in the phone book with his name to reach him. They arrange to meet in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

. Santiago's son, Eddie, confesses his depression and reveals that he gave away his guitar. Santiago encourages him, expressing a desire to travel together for therapeutic reasons. Santiago also confides in Eddie about meeting Angelina but admits to hiring an investigator to learn more about her due to his concerns about her mysteriousness. Early the next morning, Santiago visits Angelina's grand Spanish-style home. As they share breakfast, Angelina reveals her family history, including her grandfather's involvement in the

Spanish-American War Spanish Americans (, ''hispanoestadounidenses'', or ''hispanonorteamericanos'') are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from Spain. They are the longest-established European American group in the modern United States, with a ...

. Santiago reciprocates with details about his own life. They spend the day together until caught in a rainstorm, prompting them to retreat to Angelina's bedroom. There, she offers Santiago a massage with rubbing alcohol, revealing to him that she is a ghost. Despite this revelation, they declare their love for each other before parting ways. Santiago drives home in the rain, reflecting on seeing Angelina's home and garden in his dreams. His car gets stuck in the mud, but he manages to free it using a stick he finds nearby. He arrives home to find his anxious son waiting for him, describing Angelina's home as the most beautiful he's ever seen. After recovering from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

, Santiago is visited by the investigator, who shares disturbing information about Angelina's past. She was Lela, a woman who had endured a tragic life, including giving up her illegitimate child and shooting her father. Santiago recalls reading about her in the newspapers. Despite this revelation, Santiago continues his relationship with Angelina, keeping her secret to himself.

Cast

Tommy Muñiz Lucas Tomás Muñiz Ramírez (4 February 1922 – 15 January 2009), better known as Tommy Muñiz, was a Puerto Rican comedy and drama actor, media producer, businessman and network owner. He is considered to be one of the pioneering figures of ...

- Santiago Rodríguez *

Gladys Rodríguez Gladys Rodríguez (born June 4, 1943) is a Puerto Rican actress, comedian, and television host. She is also a Christian pastor and a priest at an Episcopalian church in Oviedo, Florida, near Orlando, United States. Early years Rodríguez was bor ...

- Angelina *

Jacobo Morales Jacobo Morales (born 12 November 1934) is a Puerto Rican actor, poet, writer, playwright, filmmaker, and author born in Puerto Rico.René Monclova - Eddie *

Johanna Rosaly Raquel Johanna Rosaly Guillermety (born January 13, 1948) is a Puerto Rican actress, singer, and television host. Early years Johanna Rosaly was born in Santurce, a district of San Juan. In 1956 at the age of eight, she started taking acting le ...

- Nereida * Roberto Vigoreaux - Gerardo

Production

Jacobo Morales Jacobo Morales (born 12 November 1934) is a Puerto Rican actor, poet, writer, playwright, filmmaker, and author born in Puerto Rico.Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three ...

script, which featured

. As they were in rehearsals, Morales realized that Muñiz was the "singular performer" he wanted for his film project. He said in a 2014 interview that since he had the idea "very clear, I wrote it really fast; like a little over a month". Morales invited Muñiz' son, Pedro, to serve as associate producer while Morales' wife, Blanca Silvia Eró, served as executive producer. Morales also chose

to play opposite Muñiz, for considering her a very "ductile" actress with which he had worked for decades before. Morales said of Rodríguez, "the experiences with her had been very positive and we had good communication. Her role not only suited her for her physicality, but also for her temperament." Morales described the film as a very "simple" film with "great performances from Tommy, Gladys, and René Monclova", who played Muñíz' son. The production had a budget of $500,000. Although Morales wrote the script fairly quickly, filming was delayed for around 40 days. According to Morales, at the time it was the only one of his feature films that had gone over its initially planned shooting schedule. It was filmed in

Old San Juan Old San Juan () is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the San Juan Islet, islet of San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Old San Juan, Ballajá, Catedral, Old San Juan, ...

and Santa Isabel.

Release

The film's original release was delayed because of the passage of

Hurricane Hugo Hurricane Hugo was a powerful tropical cyclone that inflicted widespread destruction across the northeastern Caribbean and the Southeastern United States in September 1989. The eleventh tropical cyclone, eighth Tropical cyclone naming, named st ...

in September 1989. It was ultimately released in November of the same year. After receiving critical acclaim, the film was also exhibited in various international festivals, including the

Festival de Cine Iberoamericano de Huelva The Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival () is the oldest film festival in Europe dedicated to the Ibero-American cinema. It has been held since 1975 in Huelva, Spain. During the first editions, it was known as (). The festival was originally or ...

in Spain, the Latin American Film Festival in Washington, and the Festival du Cinéma Espagnol de Nantes in France. According to Morales, he wasn't "thinking in success, but in a story that grabbed my attention. I always try to do everything in function of the story. The star is the film".

Reception

''Lo que le pasó a Santiago'' was generally well received by critics and audiences. Although it doesn't have an official rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

because of the lack of certified critics reviews, it still holds an approval rating of 81% among the audience based on 417 ratings. In 1990, the film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the

62nd Academy Awards The 62nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1989 and took place on March 26, 1990, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p ...

. According to Morales, it was associate producer, Pedro Muñiz, who prompted them to submit the film for consideration. Before submitting it to the Academy, they had to budget the addition of English subtitles, which they did in "record time" and the film was successfully submitted before the January 5, 1990 deadline. However, it lost to

Giuseppe Tornatore Giuseppe Tornatore (born 27 May 1956) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the directors who brought critical acclaim back to Italian cinema.Katz, Ephraim, "Italy," ''The Film Encyclopedia'' (New York: HarperRes ...

's ''

Cinema Paradiso ''Cinema Paradiso'' (, , ) is a 1988 Coming-of-age film, coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. Set in a small Sicilian town, the film centres on the friendship between a young boy and an aging projectionist ...

''.

Awards

References

External links

*
Entire film (English subtitles)
on

Odnoklassniki Odnoklassniki (), abbreviated as OK or OK.ru, is a social networking service and online video sharing website primarily in Russia and former Soviet Republics. The site was launched on March 4, 2006 by Albert Popkov and is currently owned by VK. ...

{{Puerto Rican submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film 1989 films 1989 comedy films Puerto Rican comedy films Films set in Puerto Rico Films shot in Puerto Rico Films directed by Jacobo Morales Spanish-language American films 1980s Spanish-language films Films about old age