Showtimes and Locations

Thursday, September 17. 7:00 p.m. Floyd Theater
Introduction: Prof. Christine Ehrick, Department of History

Sunday, October 4, 4:00 p.m. Elaine Chao Auditorium
Introduction: Prof. Thomas Edison, Classical & Modern Languages

Title: Mr. Kaplan/Mr. Kaplan
Director(s): Álvaro Brenchner
Country: Uruguay
Year: 2014
language: Spanish with English Subtitles
Genre: Drama
Type: Full length feature film
Length: 98 minutes.
Format: Digital
Rating*: NR 

 

Presented as part of The Spanish Film Club series with the support Pragda, and the Embassy of Spain in Washington DC, Spain-USA Foundation. Special thanks to the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.

*Rating System:  Latin American films use a different rating systme. However, we have used the following rating system to evaluafte these films.
V includes violence | L includes strong language | N includes nudity | S includes sex

Storyline

Uruguay’s official selection for Best Foreign Academy Award, Mr. Kaplan follows Jacob Kaplan’s ordinary life in Uruguay. Like many of his other Jewish friends, Jacob fled Europe for South America because of World War II. But now, turning 76, he’s become rather grumpy, fed up with his community and his family’s lack of interest in their own heritage.
One beach bar may, however, provide him with an unexpected opportunity to achieve greatness and recover his family’s respect in the community: its owner, a quiet, elderly German, raises Mr. Kaplan’s suspicion of being a runaway Nazi.
Ignoring his family’s concerns about his health, Jacob secretly recruits Contreras, a former police officer whose loyalty far exceeds his honesty, to help him investigate. Together, they will try to repeat the historic capture of Adolf Eichmann: by unmasking and kidnapping the German and secretly taking him to Israel.
Rising filmmaker Álvaro Brechner’s quixotic quest strikes plenty of comedic spark from its bone-dry humor, taking great delight in the reinvigorated ingenuity and pride of its aging protagonist. Even more potently, the film never loses sight of the existential demons that haunt those on the run from their unresolved past and, ultimately, themselves.
From Pragda, Spanish Film Club

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