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Our lady of the assassins (La virgen de los sicarios)

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Writer Fernando Vallejo (Germán Jaramillo) returns to Medellin, the city of his childhood, after an absence of over 30 years. Fernando meets Alexis (Anderson Ballesteros), 16-years-old, in a boys' brothel. Alexis comes from the slums. He has been drawn into a world of killing.

Love begins to blossom between Fernando and Alexis, but their love has no future... it is condemned before the fact by the harsh reality around them. Anyone who crosses Alexis' path can be a possible victim. He needs no reason to kill: like an angel of death, he openly fires on anybody who rubs him the wrong way...

Bound by their passion for each other, they wander from church to church, murder to murder, each day their love grows stronger. Then one day, a passing motorcyclist shoots Alexis down.

Fernando roams the streets where, in spite of the squalor and violence, everything reminds him of his romance with Alexis. One day, he meets a young boy, Wilmar (Juan David Restrepo), who at first glance looks like Alexis. A new love story begins for Fernando, as if in this city reality has been turned upside down, and the dead seem to come alive again.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Our lady of the assassins (La virgen de los sicarios) image

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

  • Film drama crime Argentina gay street crime kid brothel murder

Persons of interest

  • Germán Jaramillo .... Fernando
  • Anderson Ballesteros .... Alexis
  • Juan David Restrepo .... Wilmar
  • Manuel Busquets .... Alfonso
  • Jairo Alzate .... Taxi Driver Santa Domingo
  • Zulma Arango .... Waitress
  • José Luis Bedoya .... Taxi Sabaneta 1
  • Cenobia Cano .... Alexis' Mother
  • Fernando Vallejo .... Author: La virgen de los sicarios
  • Fernando Vallejo .... Screenwriter
  • Barbet Schroeder .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Malèna, for gay men, from the point of view of Malèna (or in this case, Fernando).

Our lady of the assassins evokes a similar raw passion and similar inhumanity toward human beings. Happiness can never be achieved when there are other people who want to be happy at your expense. A man, a boy and a deserted tropical island is the only way to find any kind of happiness.

If you ever want to understand the futility of life, then Fernando is the man to explain it to you. He sees all the petty inhumanity of humankind, knows that the greatest punishment is no punishment at all and understands that happiness is nothing more than the cessation of pain. Life sucks and then you die.

Making the case for the opposition is Alexis, a gay street kid who takes life as he finds it, knowing not to expect anything more of it that what you hold in your hand. Dreams are for children and writers. Death is for people. Falling in love is therefore just a good thing that happens and should be held onto for as long as it lasts. Anderson exudes streetwise sensuality and an irresistible attraction. He's wise beyond his years and still as innocent as the day he was born. The dog scene brings all his contradictions to the surface where you can only watch in horror as the seeds of his destruction are sown.

As to the sexuality, on the one hand it's sad to see gay men being portrayed as nothing but paedophiles but on the other hand it's good to see that the relationships between Fernando and Alexis and Fernando and Wilmar are victimless: moving beneath the age of consent (which is more arbitrary than the age of voting, drinking, driving and going to war to kill people) has better consequences for everyone.

Our lady of the assassins, possibly the greatest film title of all time, is a sad film about a sad life and will induce the self same feeling in anyone who sees it. That should be you.

Media intelligence (DVD)

  • Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
  • Disc: Single side, single layer
  • Languages: Spanish
  • Picture: Widescreen enhanced
  • Subtitles: English

Security censorship classification

MA 15+ (Medium level violence, adult themes)

Surveillance time

101 minutes (1:41 hours)

Not for public release in Australia before date

Film: 4 October 2001 - Sydney
Film: 11 October 2001 - Melbourne
DVD rental: 21 June 2002
VHS rental: 21 June 2002

Cinema surveillance images

Our lady of the assassins (La virgen de los sicarios) image
Our lady of the assassins (La virgen de los sicarios) imageOur lady of the assassins (La virgen de los sicarios) imageOur lady of the assassins (La virgen de los sicarios) image

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