MovieChat Forums > Marathon Man (1976) Discussion > This film is insulting

This film is insulting

posted 16 years ago by Skylab23
162 replies | jump to latest

As someone who is from Uruguay I must say this film is completely disrespectful. I was watching this film and enjoying it up until the part where they show Szell's hideout in Uruguay. I was like: 'WHAT?', because apparently we have jungles here and I didn't even notice. I know most of you people don't even know where Uruguay is and don't care about this, but I ask you: if they depicted your country in a film in a completely wrong way, wouldn't you be pissed off?. Filmmakers should do a little research if they are going to put something in a film they know nothing about.
Luckily this mistake is shown in the goofs section for this movie:
"Errors in geography: Dr. Szell is supposed to be living in Uruguay before going to New York. We see shots of what is supposed to be Uruguay which show people traveling in canoes through the jungle, but in Uruguay there is no jungle."

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EDIT (7 years later): Hey guys, good news: I'm over it now.
Calling the film insulting was too much, I admit; I do remember being pretty irritated when I wrote the message above. Of course, that it inaccurately depicts Uruguay's geography is undeniable.
I would delete this post, but hey, many of your responses are pretty funny!

It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
Indiana Jones, "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

[–] dadeaux 15 years ago

Oh, come on. Uruguay, Paraguay, whatever. Can you tell the difference between Bosnia, Herzegovina, Slovenia and Slovakia? Latvia and Lithuania? Do people in these countries keep sealions for pets, or mountain lions? Don't be a drama queen, like those sad creatures of Kazakhstan, when Borat assumed their nationality.

You may notice that I'm being very disrespectful, but I would still buy you a whisky if we ever meet. Whisky is a traditional Uruguayan drink, isn't it? I learned that in a film, which I liked a lot.

[–] richimorton 14 years ago

Maybe you should leave Rio for a weekend & explore the countryside outside of the city - i think they call it THE AMAZON ! The Amazon jungle ?

That which does not Kill me makes me Stranger . . .

[–] richimorton 14 years ago

Oh and by the way Urugestan is where Borat comes from in central asia so no jungles there !

That which does not Kill me makes me Stranger . . .

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] cajayson8301 14 years ago

if they depicted your country in a film in a completely wrong way, wouldn't you be pissed off

Depends on the depiction. I can give them a pass on a geographical error.

If mothers ruled the world, there would be no god damn wars in the first place-Sally Field

[–] mungbean-1 14 years ago

Are your serious? Im in New Zealand, do you think we have Hobbits, Orcs and whatever rolling around the counry side?

It's a movie, sets are used. Do you think all the concentration camps ever portrayed in movies were filmed on site?
Stop being such a nanny.

***********************************
It only seems weird the first time.

[–] artus1 14 years ago

I'm from NZ too

The OP has a point. It's Hollywood, and as we all know there is so much rubbish in so many movies from the US, but it doesn't make it acceptable to me. Kudos to the directors and writers who take a bit of time to actually so a bit of research before they film.

LOTR was a fantasy land, so I don't really expect to find trolls etc roaming outside, but one thing I will say about that trilogy, they spent a huge amount of time researching the geography, to make a fantasy land that doesn't exist. Is it not too much to expect hollywood to spend a few minutes on research too?

I wouldn't expect my NZ friend to understand because he is probably 15-25 yrs old, has studied media studies at school and understands everything way better than anyone else. Just not sure if he realises LOTR is a fantasy movie and not actually set in NZ

[–] boneman4 14 years ago

It is amusing that this thread has stretched out for two years primarily on the basis of a geographic snafu.There was a time when geography was taught in
elementary and high schools in the USA as well as freshman colleges.Sadly,
many of today's youngsters living in the USA have little geographic knowledge,and would probably not know of Uruguay's location or its physiognomy.
I suspect the makers of the film in the 1970's shared this lack of knowledge.
Surprisingly,only two blogs in this large thread suggested that the country
may have been PARAGUAY that does have the land characteristics,people,and history of hiding Nazis as depicted in the movie.Furthermore in William Goldman's book PARAGUAY,not URUGUAY is the country depicted hiding Szell.I can
understand how a proud Uruguayan can be upset that his/her country isn't properly portrayed.I'm upset that so many of my fellow Americans(USA) have such a lack of geographical knowledge of their own country let alone one in South America.

[–] george_aslf 14 years ago

I don't know about Americans but here in Europe we for sure know where Uruguay is. And of course we know who Diego Forlan is - the King!! ;)

[–] flixk 14 years ago

"I know most of you people don't even know where Uruguay is..."

What do you mean 'you people'?
Now, *I'm* insulted.