Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a drama film directed by Francesco Rosi adapted by Tonino Guerra from the eponymous novella by Gabriel García Márquez. It stars Rupert Everett, Ornella Muti, Anthony Delon and Gian Maria Volonté. The film premiered at Cannes film festival in May 1987. Plot Six months before Santiago Nasar was killed, a handsome, young foreigner arrived to his hometown, a small Colombian city in the banks of the Magdalena river. His name is Bayardo San Román. Little is known about him except that he is very rich and in want of a wife. Bayardo is soon smitten by the extraordinary beauty of a local girl, Angela Vicario. She is uninterested in his advances, but Bayardo does whatever it takes to win her approval by showering her with gifts. The next time Bayardo sees her, she is selling tickets for a raffle at a town event. He buys all of the remaining tickets and wins a music box, which he then has delivered to her house as a gift. Bayardo asks Angela what house she likes best, and she replies that she likes the one that belongs to the widower Xius. The widower insists that the house is not for sale, but Bayardo keeps offering more and more money until Xius gives in. When Angela protests to her parents that she does not love Bayardo, her mother dismissed her argument, telling her that love can be learned. Pressured by her family, she yields and the couple gets married with a lavish party. On the wedding night, Bayardo discovers that Angela is not a virgin and returns her to her bewildered family. Angela is beaten by her mother until she is forced to confess who took her virginity: Santiago Nasar. Angela's brothers (who are twins) are forced by local custom to avenge the family's honor, by taking Santiago's life. The murder takes place the day after the wedding when the town is in turmoil waiting for the visit of the bishop who is crossing the city by the river. The twins Pablo and Pedro Vicario, are reluctant to commit the crime, but they must kill the man who took their sister's honor. The twins, with knives wrapped in newspaper, wait for Santiago to appear in Clotilde Armenta's shop, who gives them rum, hoping to make them so drunk that they will be unable to commit the killing. Eventually, many people learn of the murder plan, but nobody does anything to stop the brothers or warn Santiago. People in the town are divided into three sides.