"For some, what matters is what´s inside"

Title: Corazon de León 

Year: 2013 

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance 

Director: Marcos Carnevale 

Writer: Betiana Blum (idea), Marcos Carnevale (idea and screenplay) 

Runtime: 94min 

Cast: Julieta Díaz, Guillermo Francella, Mauricio Dayub, Jorgelina Aruzzi, Nicolás Francella, Nora Cárpena

Product.: Argentina Sono Film Telefé 

Budget: $2 million approx. 

Many times we see a film that reminds us of another, and this was for me the case of Marcos Carnevale´s Corazón de León. In it, Ivana (Julieta Diaz) is a beautiful woman of normal height, who meets León (Guillermo Francella), a 4' 5" tall, of whom few would have imagined such a conquest. 

By the way, the other movie I remembered was Shallow Hal (2001), of the Farrelly brothers, where Hal (Jack Black), a superficial guy, begins to see people´s inner beauty, after being hypnotized. The paths taken in each case are certainly different, although it is understood that they share the same message. 

The biggest difference between these two comedies is that Carnevale´s is more serious and intelligent. Not that we could ask too much of the Farrelly, considering to be the same from Dumb and Dumber (1994) and Me, myself and Irene (2000). Because yet, having good intentions, Shallow Hal has inconsistencies, forced jokes and improbable situations, that one manages to ignore when already knows who is behind. 

Moreover, in the Argentinean flick, Ivana falls for a León, whom no one but her, sees as normal, or worthy of her time. Similar to Mauricio´s case (Jason Alexander), in Shallow Hal, and who cannot believe his friend is dating someone who, speaking quickly and badly, looks like a whale. Because in the same way that, according to her close ones, Ivana should not go out with a midget, how could have happened to Hal, to be with an obese woman? 

Continuing on this path, Corazón de León, unlike Shallow Hal, explores, not only the importance of what lies beneath the surface, but deepens in the views of both parties. For León is no small thing, to having been able to date a woman without his problem. However, once they are seeing each other, he does not like to be introduced only as a friend. What happens is that for Ivana, this unexpected relationship has now caught her by surprise and she fears of what others might think of her. The issue, thus, becomes which of them should be more flexible and give the other a larger space, to assimilate what they are doing. The thing is that Ivana does not want her to be looked at as a freak, while León aims, not to be kept hidden. For Ivana all of this is very new, while for León discrimination is an everyday thing. 

Carnevale exposes the prejudices of a society where the physically less fortunate have to show up other attributes to offset what for them is missing, and to be taken into account. 

Carnevale makes León as someone wonderful in so many ways, that his attractiveness goes beyond his physical appearance. What, more romantically speaking could be defined as that, what he is missing in inches; he has got plenty in behavior and personality. On the other hand, shows Ivana as stressed and in need of some support that, as she gets it from her partner, no one sees him to be the right choice.

All this will lead to an ending, where she must choose between if she listens to what others say, or if she lets herself to be guided by what she wants. 

My rating: 7/10

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