by Clarke Fountain
synopsis
Reformers with grandiose visions of utopias are forever mowing down unsightly neighborhoods inhabited by disadvantaged residents in order to put up unsightly housing or apartment blocks, or in order to build (morally) repellent housing for the well-to-do. In this movie, the neighborhood is El Saladillo in Maracaibo in 1971, Venezuela, and it residents are all blue-collar working people. In the story, they are unified in wanting to help one of their own achieve stardom in Hollywood. They raise the money to get head-shots of her and send them to "Metro Gordon Meyer, Joligud, U.S." Not surprisingly, they never hear back from America. This sentimental movie is based on a novel by Rutillo Ortega, Cronicas de El Saladillo.
