FILM REVIEW: EL PEPE--A SUPREME LIFE

Throughout his career, Emir Kusturca has always been drawn to stories about utopian dreamers and outlaws, so it's no surprise that he would make El Pepe: A Supreme Life (2018), a documentary about former Uruguayan President Jose "Pepe" Mujica.  Like the charismatic protagonists from Kusturica's films like Underground and Black Cat, White Car, Pepe Mujica was a revolutionary who worked from the margins of society to upend the dominant social order.  And, as in his previous films, El Pepe: A Supreme Life is very much a celebration of life and the human spirit amidst seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

El Pepe: A Supreme Life was filmed after Pepe Mujica retired from his Presidency, which lasted from 2010 to 2015.  As the President of Uruguay, Mujica was known as a plain-spoken "man of the people" and social rights reformer; he was able to reduce the national poverty rate from 40% to 11%, the unemployment rate from 13% to 7%, and he raised the minimum wage by 250%. Before his became President, Mujica was a guerilla fighter as a member of the MLN-Tupamaros movement during the 1960s and 1970s, when he fought against the authoritarian Presidency of Jorge Pacheco Areco. During this period, Mujica met Lucia Topolansky, a fellow revolutionary fighter who would become Mujica's lifelong companion and partner (Topolansky would go on to serve as the Vice President of Uruguay from 2017 to 2020). As a result of his guerilla activity, Mujica was eventually aprehended by the authorities and spent over 10 years in prison.

All of this biographical detail is covered in Kusturica's documentary, as he mixes archival footage with modern day recollections of his life by Mujica himself.  As the film opens, we see Kusturica and Mujica sitting outside Mujica's garden, as Mujica silently prepares a drink for the two of them. Indeed, what makes El Pepe such a fascinating film is Kusturica's combination of intimate personal details about the post-Presidential life of Mujica, with narration about his fascinating guerilla years and rise to the Presidency.

We see Mujica reflect on his regrets, such as never having had the opportunity to have his own children, as well as his thoughts on the state of the modern world, which he sees as being consumed by capitalism and greed. By following Mujica around in his daily life, such as visiting the construction and eventual opening of housing and a new school for those living in poverty, Kusturica and Mujica himself invite us as viewers into his altruistic worldview. For Mujica, money is not important, as he donates 90% of his post-Presidential salary to efforts to help out the poor.  Instead, what he values most, and what Kusturica himself does also in his own films, is a vision for a more equitable sense of community on a global level.

After his own country of Yugoslavia was torn apart by the Bosnian War during the 1990s, Kusturica became an exile from his own country after many accused his film Underground of being pro-Serbian propaganda.  Since then, Kusturica has tried to regain a sense of belonging in his native homeland by building his own village in Serbia.  This village, named Kustendorf, was created as a utopian vision of (in the words of Kusturica himself), "an open place with cultural diversity which sets up against globalization."  In this sense, we can see why Kusturica was drawn to creating a documentary about Mujica, as he saw a fellow utopian visionary in the former President of Uruguay.

Like the history of Yugolslavia itself, Kusturica saw Mujica's ascension to the Presidency as a long and arduous path to heal a country torn apart by violent strife.  And, after trying his best to unite the various factions of his country into one united whole, Mujica spent his post-Presidential years continuing his utopian vision of the world with his efforts to help out those living in poverty in Uruguay.  Throughout El Pepe, Kusturica keeps the camera at a deeply intimate and close level, allowing us as viewers to become fully engulfed in the unique and inviting society that Mujica is creating before our own eyes.

Throughout his tumultous life, the one constant in Mujica's life was his lifelong partner Topolansky, an extraordinary woman who was not only Mujica's political adviser and confidant, but also his soulmate.  This is the most touching aspect of El Pepe, as Kusturica reveals the deep love and connection the couple have for each other, from their early years as guerilla fighters in the 1960s, through their years as the leaders of Uruguay, and into their twilight years as an older couple enjoying each other's company.

El Pepe ends with a very moving visit Topolansky and Mujica pay to a restuarant, where they are serenaded by a band, as onlookers watch on.  It is personal and intimate details like this that make El Pepe such a powerful and emotional documentary.  Although it is very much a political portrait of a country and its history, El Pepe is ultimately the story of a man and a woman whose love and respect for each other sustains them into the last years of their lives.  Although both Topolansky and Mujica are still alive at the time of the making of El Pepe, Mujica acknowledges in the film that he feels like his life is coming to an end.  But, with Kusturica's deeply humanistic and poignant film El Pepe, we can only hope that Mujica's message will continue to inspire future generations.