Arcibel's Game (El Juego de Arcibel) (2004)

Arcibel's Game could almost be called The Accidental Revolutionary. It is Romero meets The Shawshank Redemption or a secular take on Of Gods and Men. It reaches stirring and even epic heights though, owing to a few minor weaknesses, it falls slightly short of being epic. Our story begins shortly before the chess columnist for a newspaper in the fictional nation of Miranda is arrested on political charges. A florid and poetic writer, he explains how he was only writing about the king and pawns of a chessboard but a last-minute word change by his editor has made such protestations of innocence untenable in the eyes of the authorities. Arcibel is locked up in prison -- without charges and hence no legal basis to ever be freed -- for virtually the rest of his life. This movie is about the dashed hopes and crushing frustration of political imprisonment and how one insightful man learned over the decades to cultivate his mental tableau and emotional landscape to preserve his dignity -- and to provide a positive example to his daughter and a rough-edged young cellmate who eventually changed the face of the nation. The story arc of this movie is timely and of special interest as democratic revolutions spread in the Middle East. It is a powerful movie about one man's legacy and one country's political destiny, whichever party or person is in political ascendancy. You may also appreciate its moving Oscar-caliber musical score. (Since it has been a Save title here for years, I had to rent it from a competing service that needed three attempts over two weeks before Ballbuster finally sent the correct disc.) See this is you can! 4.5 stars.