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Ilona llega con la lluvia. Dir. Sergio Cabrera. Colombia, 1995. Duration: 110 minutes.
Film adaptations of literary texts usually meet with a lot of comparative scrutiny from its viewers, particularly, when the moviegoers are fully acquainted with the original work on which the screenplay is based. Often, a viewer that has never read the original story will find inspiration to read the book if the movie captivates their interest. Many disappointments frequently emerge from both situations. Either, the viewer finds the film more fulfilling in the gratuitous availability of visual images, or the reader prefers the book for its limitless source of imaginative stimulation film hinders with its controlled camera perspective and casting of actors. In most cases of film adaptations, however, detail in psychological introspection of character is sacrificed for the sake of narrative economy when films of longer than two hours might challenge the spectator's patience. David Lean's memorable A Passage to India is a perfect example. A characteristic Lean feature with its exquisite atmospheric photography, the film fails to present the deep subtleties of the characters' complex psychologies E.M. Forster brilliantly exposed in his writing. Ilona llega con la lluvia does not follow this pattern.
The film is based on Alvaro Mutis's short novel, Ilona llega con la lluvia (1987), the second in a trilogy that started with La nieve del almirante (1986) and ended with Un bel morir (1989); all novels centered on the adventures of its male protagonist Maqroll Ael Gaviero." Except for the five-minute synopsis of the passage that refers to Cornelius, the captain and owner of the Hansa Stern, the film...