Red Ink

I found among my mom's current lot of Netflix choices a film called Tinta roja or Red Ink, a Spanish-language, English-subtitled drama set in Peru.

The lead character Alfonso is an aspiring writer who signs on at a not-so-classy tabloid newspaper planning to cover the arts. Instead he gets thrown into the strange world of reporting crime.

When he first sees the sensationalism that drives the paper, he balks, but eventually he becomes a natural at bringing drama into any murder case, whether the drama was really there or not. He becomes a key player on a team that includes his sleazy boss Faundez, a wise driver who is perhaps the film's most likable character, and a usually silent photographer who specializes is making victims' families cry so he can make the best photos.

The plot unwinds on two key developments that bring the reporters own lives into their coverage area, exposing hypocrisy in the experienced Faundez and principles in the transformed Alfonso.

This film is worth a viewing for anyone interested in journalism, but more than being about newspapermen it is simply a human drama -- and like the journalism they practice in the movie, it may be at times a bit over the top.