- Tosar (left) in Operation E
There are numerous reasons to see the docudrama Operation E (2012), which screens again at the Gene Siskel Film Center tomorrow at 7:45 PM (it’s part of the sidebar of new Spanish cinema in the European Union Film Festival), but chief among them is Luis Tosar. In every performance of his I’ve seen, this Spanish actor seems to transform himself from the inside out—each character has his own body language, his own way of making eye contact. His characters even appear to process thoughts at different speeds. Yet with the possible exception of his South American drug lord in Miami Vice (who hides behind a giant, mask-like beard), all of Tosar’s characters look and sound like him. He takes no shortcuts to disappear into a role.
This character comes to suffer for his complicity; so too does his extended family. Yet the filmmakers never suggest that this man is receiving his comeuppance. To live in a terror-stricken country is to risk being victimized at any moment. Operation E derives much suspense from this fact, as well as a sense of tragedy that lingers well after the movie ends.
