Secuestro Express

After a decadent night of clubbing in the Venezuelan city of Caracas, Carla (Mia Maestro) and her fiance, Martin (Jean Paul Leroux), are kidnapped by a trio of violent toughs, one of the legion of Latin American gangs who kidnap wealthy people in order to demand a high ransom. As they wait for Carla's doctor father (Ruben Blades) to produce the money, the thugs drive their victims across a nightmarish, nocturnal landscape of filthy landscapes and untrustworthy characters, beating them and threatening them with more extreme violence--especially when it appears that they just might get a reprieve. A brutal, digital-video adrenaline rush, SECUESTRO EXPRESS is like PULP FICTION and TRAINSPOTTING colliding with Mario Bava's punishing 1974 film, RABID DOGS. First-time director Jonathan Jakubowicz, just 26 years old, has created a thriller ripe with showy technique, which does nothing to diminish the raw power of the proceedings. Along the way, Jakubowicz's message--that a few folks in Caracas have money while most of the city's citizens starve--is driven home by the effective performances of hip-hop stars Carlos Julio Molina, Pedro Berez, and Carlos Madera as the kidnappers. Unfortunately for the city's economy, after seeing this film, few wealthy foreigners are likely to be inspired to buy a ticket to Caracas.