El Pepe: A Supreme Life

The documentary is one long conversation with José Mujica, the former president of Uruguay. Mujica is in his eighties; as a young man he was in the armed Tupamaro movement, spent twelve years in prison under the military dictatorship, much of it in solitary, and was elected president in 2010. In office he was known for giving away most of his salary and for living on his own smallholding rather than in the residence. Emir Kusturica directed and sat down opposite him. The range of subjects is wide: the world economy, gardening, Uruguayan politics and love. The form of the film is that conversation. Kusturica drinks maté, smokes a large cigar and listens well; he does not ask a hard question. That is the common note in the reviews: the documentary does not interrogate Mujica, it makes room for him. It screened at the Venice Film Festival on 2 September 2018 and went out on Netflix on 27 December 2019. Who it is for: viewers interested in Latin American politics and single-subject portrait documentaries. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a critical eye. The film tests almost nothing of what Mujica says.