THE “WORLD’S” OPINION – NOT TO BE MISSED
Hip hip hip, hurray! Colombia’s most famous hippopotamus deserves this onomatopoeic tribute, as does the director of Pepe (named after the animal), Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias. Let’s remember this name: born in 1985 in the Dominican Republic, the filmmaker has undoubtedly watched Godard a lot, and he seems to enjoy the fable as much as the Portuguese director Miguel Gomes or the Romanian Radu Jude. Pepehis fourth feature film, received the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlinale in February 2024.
At the origin of this disheveled work is the incredible private zoo project of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar (1949-1993). For those who don’t know the story, here it is in a few words: in 1981, Escobar had three hippos smuggled from Namibia, which had come to complete his wild animal park, located in the heart of his property. The hippos reproduced, until they formed a herd. When the drug trafficker died in 1993, the animals were distributed among different zoos, with the exception of the hippos, undoubtedly considered too heavy to move, or too expensive to maintain. So they were left to their own devices. Then time passed. By 2009, the males had become so numerous that they started fighting among themselves.
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