One of the main reasons movies exist is that they allow us to perfect the moments in life that are messier and less satisfying than we wish they were. In the movies the main character always has the snappy comeback line at the ready. She knows just what to say at her mother’s death bed. She keeps it together in a stressful situation and solves the crisis with finesse.
In real life we stumble through our lives. While solving a tricky problem with style and wit would be great, most of us are just grateful to make it through another day in one piece.
Undertow, a beautiful 2009 film from Peruvian writer/director Javier Fuentes-León, drops us right into the middle of a very messy situation: Miguel (Cristian Mercado) has a devoted wife Mariela (Tatiana Astengo) who’s about to give birth to their first child. Miguel, a fisherman, loves his wife. The only problem? He also loves his secret boyfriend Santiago (Manolo Cardona).
The movie begins with everyone in the town participating in an traditional funeral ritual during which a recently-deceased villager’s body is offered up to the sea. The ceremony feels very ancient and pagan, and is intended to ensure that the departed soul can rest peacefully.
Needless to say, the tiny fishing community Miguel lives in is insular, traditional, and highly Catholic. 
Santiago is an itinerant painter who keeps to himself and causes ripples in the rumor mill.
Suddenly, the situation changes drastically. Miguel is surprised one afternoon to find Santiago in his house . . . but it’s not really Santiago! It’s his ghost. It seems he was caught in an Undertow and drowned.
Perhaps surprisingly, it seems to Miguel that his problem has been solved. No one but him can even see Santiago, and even though he’s a ghost, he’s touchable. So Miguel can continue his affair with a secret boyfriend who is now really secret.
Undertow is very much in the tradition of Latin American Magical Realism, and as such, there are no special effects. To us, Santiago just looks like Santiago. There’s nothing ethereal or discorporate about him. He simply is invisible to anyone but Miguel.
The great aspect of Magical Realism is that is breaks the literal rules of real life in order to get to a deeper truth. There’s a matter-of-factness to the way the film deals with this unreal situation which is refreshing.
Back to Miguel and his sexy ghost boyfriend. Of course such a happy state of affairs cannot continue forever. Paintings Santiago made of Miguel are discovered and the whole town finds out about the affair.
At about this point in the movie I was really worried. It seems like Miguel is going to try to patch things up with his wife and try to forget about Santiago. As I sat there I was about to give up on the movie.
But then, I am happy to report, the movie completely surprised me. I won’t tell you what exactly happens, but it’s a surprisingly moving act of redemption and forgiveness. I highly recommend you let yourself get swept away by Undertow.
