La Sombra Del Caminante (The Wandering Shadows) 15

Dir: Ciro Guerra | Colombia | 2004 | 94 mins | B&W | 35mm

This feature début demonstrates real promise for young Colombian director Guerra, with its accomplished use of parable and its bold black and white imagery. Mañe (Badillo) has lost a leg and is constantly being attacked – by kids and peers alike. One day he is rescued after a mugging by a strange, spindly creature with goggles who carries people on his back through the centre of Bogota for 500 pesos – a “silletero/chair man”. And so the two become friends, but it soon emerges that they share a past – one that both unites and separates them. With its nod to David Lynch and classic silents, LA SOMBRA DEL CAMINANTE was Colombia’s submission for the Foreign Language Oscar.