Film Production
The film was shot with early high-definition video cameras (Sony HDW-700) in the year 2000. The digital video gives the movie a cinéma vérité look and was one of the first uses of HD video for a feature film.
At face value, the film can be seen as an indictment of the terrible situation in present-day Medellín—however, the character of Fernando is not unproblematic. While during much of the movie he seems like an innocent bystander to the action, his fascination with all things morbid and moribund shows that to some degree he seeks out and enjoys the violence.
This is also evident in his reactions to the killings done by his lovers, that range from speechlessness to a feeling of almost divine power as time passes. He also does not leave the city despite the clear danger to Alexis' / Wilmar's lives, even though he has inherited enough money to go wherever he wants. Therefore, the film can also be seen as depicting the symbiotic relationship between the author and his subject matter, namely the Medellín gangs.
According to the director, the relationship between Fernando and Alexis is patterned on Greek pederasty, where "not only was a boy learning from an adult, but an adult was also learning from the boy. It's a two-way relationship, especially in this movie, where the writer discovers things about the new realities of his town that he would never know otherwise. And obviously, the boy has everything to discover from this adult."
Read more about this topic: Our Lady Of The Assassins (film)
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