Immersing yourself in the mind of an idealistic but conflictedSouth American police officer does not qualify as entertaining inthe same way as the explosive action in a Vin Diesel feature.

For the right viewer, the layers of intrigue and the grindingpathos in the story of Agustin Rejas are rewarding enough to make”The Dancer Upstairs,” a good investment of time and money. Firsttime director John Malkovich conjures a beautiful and realisticmovie from a story that easily crosses lines created by culture andtime.

Set in an unnamed but conventionally corrupt Latin Americancountry and filmed in Ecuador, Spain and Portugal, “Dancer”presents visual imagery that is as lush and beautiful as it isstark and horrifying. Malkovich has taken time to focus on smalldetails that forward the story without making it clumsy anddense.

Shots of book covers as they are being packed by Rejas(Javier Bardem) give viewers a glance at the level of educationthis lawyer turned cop has pursued. Snippets of conversationreferencing 1970s blaxploitation flicks reveal casual attitudesabout sexuality in addition to the conflict of an impoverished lifein a corrupt and inflation plagued political system.

The story is woven like a thriller. Tying together scenes byrevelation and not with overt narration and clich65533;d plotdevices. The device of great power corrupting great men is tweakedin a new way for this film. It surprises in each turn of a newphrase and the allegory it contains for our own bourgeois lives. Itdoes not condemn. It simply paints a picture of the complexity ofreality.

The actors are new faces to American audiences. That makes themno less appealing and compelling. Bardem is outstanding. Hepersonifies compassion and the pull of many allegiances with acalculation, as an actor, that can only be defined as relaxed andreal.

Juan Diego Botto plays young colleague Sucre with a sense ofhumor and rage appropriate for his position.

There was no need for a “Hollywood style” in the line ofduty injury to depict the close relationship between these two.Their brotherly affection for each other is evident.

Laura Morante as Yolanda is the locus of conflict for this coptorn between his many lives. As his daughter’s ballet instructor,she is as comfortably complex as Bardem.

In the end ballet is allegory for truth sought in thisstory. Fragile padding of feet and the relationship betweenspace and the dancer represent one man dancing between duty,history, church, intellect, and love.