The movie "El ultimo tren"

The movie “El ultimo tren” (2002), directed by Diego Arsuaga with a beautiful cinematography (by Hans Burman) and soundtrack (by Nicolás Baraldi and Hugo Jasa) is about a business man called Pauls who wants to sell the train 33, known as “Corazón de fuego” to a company in Hollywood. A group of elderly men known as “The Friends of the Rails”, believe that if Pauls sells that train to Hollywood, he would sell part of the country’s history. The group steals the train and “El professor”, “Pepe”, “Dante” and “Guito” went all across the country, showing Uruguay’s landscape fighting for what they believe, which was preserve the history of the country by going against the liberalism, keeping the train in the country. The book gave us opposite examples in different countries of Latin America where the liberalists were developing the economy based on foreign trade, liberalism and free market.
The movie “El ultimo tren”, reminds me a Brazilian expression which is “people have a short memory about history”. The character of Dante Minetti (Pepe Soriano) makes me think a lot of that. He is suffering from Alzheimer’s and he can’t remember things well. He needs to write everything in a notebook. I think his character represents the short memory of people about history, in particular Uruguay history. The second thing which makes me think a lot was the sign they put at the back of the train, saying: “No one sells the patrimony” which represents the fight against the free trade, liberalism and globalization, when people / companies were selling everything just to make money. In addition, the last scene had a lot of impact, when people were seating in the course of the train blocking the way and keeping the train where it was, expressing the fight against the free trade and liberalism showing that they want to keep the train in Uruguay.
The book Modern Latin America gave us information about the liberalism, free trade and results of the globalization in many different countries of Latin America.
Liberalism, both political and economic, gained increasing sway. (…) The liberals also believed in developing their country’s economy by accepting foreign trade. That meant applying the principles of economic liberalism – minimal state interference with the market. (…) The nineteenth century saw the triumph of economic liberalism in Latin America. Its export-oriented strategies were based on the law of comparative advantage. A few nationalist voices cried out against this strategy, but without much practical impact. (400/414).
That quotation represents the Liberalist system which allowed people and companies to sell everything in a free trade environment. It also represents the fight showed at the movie when we think the elderly men were a few nationalist voices against the system, trying to keep the train 33 in Uruguay.
Works cited
Skidmore, Thomas and Smith, Peter Modern Latin America (6th Edition), New York - Oxford University Press, 1997.