After satiating his greatest desire, a man comes to terms with his past: assassinating the sect’s leader, of which he was a part for many years.
Shot on textured Kodak 16mm, “Los Conductos” is a psychedelic debut by Colombian visual artist Camille Restrepo. The feature begins with Pinky (Luis Felipe Lozano) being transported from his pitch-black prison cell to riding his red motorcycle across the Andes mountains down to the bustling city of Medellin. Having recently escaped an abusive religious sect, Pinky is seeking revenge in this semi-autobiographical account loosely based on the actor’s life story.
While he takes refuge in a factory producing T-shirts, Pinky snorts coke and sketches out plans to kill the sect’s leader. Through fantasies, he confronts the ghosts of his past while presently he heads towards his confrontation. Aside from the lead’s backstory, Restrepo drew inspiration from Desquité, a famous bandit that took on Colombia’s conservative landowners and became a hero to the peasants.
For a debut feature, naturally, there are some rough edges like too much symbolism, but its major theme of indoctrination is handled quite astutely. The film also marks another entry for the Latin American New Wave of films rooted in the mystical, containing radical politics showcasing stories processing the past with historical materialism. The Global South is changing the cinematic landscape, and I could not be more thrilled. Ending “Los Conductos” with a political poem, Restrepo ensures his message will not be lost on the masses.
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