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El Angel

Name: El Angel
Director: Luis Ortega
Released: 2018
Duration: 115 min

Representation Score

6.6/10

Good

2018

Director

Luis Ortega

Runtime

115 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

El Ángel is a sophisticated character study that uses a dark, romanticized aesthetic to deconstruct traditional morality. By centering the intense bond between Carlos and Ramón, the film disrupts conventional crime drama expectations through a psychological exploration of non-normative desire. The film integrates same-sex intimacy into the characters' fundamental motivations, challenging standard genre clichés and providing a nuanced look at transgression. While the film offers a strong regional perspective by grounding itself in Argentine identity, the narrative remains tightly focused on the protagonists. This limits the broader social and racial diversity of the cast.

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Category Breakdown

Does El Angel have LGBTQ+ representation?

Excellent

The film centers its narrative on a romantic and sexual relationship between two male protagonists. This intimacy is a key part of the story rather than a side plot, challenging the idea that everyone is straight or cisgender.

How does El Angel portray gender?

Good

The story challenges traditional ideas of masculinity by focusing on a delicate and vulnerable power dynamic instead of typical crime themes. It explores masculinity through a focus on obsession and vulnerability.

How racially and ethnically diverse is El Angel?

Fair

Set in 1970s Buenos Aires, the film offers a localized, non-Anglo-centric perspective. However, the social breadth of the cast remains largely focused on the central duo.

How does El Angel represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The narrative avoids a simple good-versus-evil framework by presenting crime as a form of personal expression and liberation. This approach treats crime as a form of self-expression rather than a purely negative act.

Does El Angel include disability representation?

Minimal

The film does not feature characters with visible or invisible disabilities as central narrative drivers.

Present on Screen

Integrates queer intimacy as a central narrative driver rather than a subplot.
Challenges traditional masculine clichés through stylized and vulnerable character dynamics.
Provides a non-Anglo-centric perspective by grounding the story in 1970s Buenos Aires.
Challenges systemic morality through a nuanced, postmodern exploration of criminality.

Limited or Absent

The social breadth of the cast is limited by a heavy focus on the central duo.
The narrative lacks representation of characters with disabilities.

Official Synopsis

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1971. Carlos Robledo Puch is a 19-year-old boy with an angelic face, but a vocational thief as well, who acts ruthlessly, without remorse. When he meets Ramón, they follow together a dark path of crime and death.

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