Así habló el cambista

"Wir Geldwechsler sind der Ursprung allen Übels der Welt." Das sagt Humberto Brause, der Erzähler dieser bitterbösen Chronik aus Montevideo, die von den 1950ern bis in die 1970er Jahre reicht. Humberto, der ungelenke Angestellte mit einem Hang zu klassischer Musik und fremdfinanziertem Luxuskonsum, wäscht mit seiner Firma Geld im Auftrag von Abgeordneten, Großkriminellen und Landräubern. Der uruguyanische Filmemacher Federico Veiroj – dem die Viennale 2015 ein Programm gewidmet hat – macht aus Humberto das amoralische Zentrum einer Tragikomödie, die keine Gerechtigkeit, sondern nur immer größere Einsamkeit kennt. (Robert Weixlbaumer)

In Anwesenheit von Federico Veiroj.

All of Federico Veiroj’s films examine facets of masculinity. In this magnificent, heterodox film noir, the famous moneychanger of the title offers a commentary on a form of male subjectivity typical in capitalism, with Veiroj proposing a genealogy of this subjectivity that goes back to the times of Christ. Professional ascent and domestic life, as well as the financial uncertainty linked to political power in Uruguay (and, indirectly, in Argentina and Brazil) between 1956 and 1975, constitute the symbolic universe in which this character moves. And although the moneychanger has a frail, unscrupulous morality, this doesn’t prevent him from being a filmic creature and thus awakening an enigmatic form of sympathy.
This film is a meticulous study of man, without ever employing some didactic psychology that might explain his actions and decisions. The period reconstruction is as precise as the staging as a whole, as can be seen in the use of extra-diegetic music and some elegant tracking shots, as well as the indispensable mise en abyme used to materialize the experience of the character’s consciousness in a brief, yet remarkable passage that enables the plot to break away from any emblematic claustrophobic stage. This is yet another film to prove that "money is the only visible god". (Roger Koza)

In the presence of Federico Veiroj.