Whisky Romeo Zulu
| Whisky Romeo Zulu | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Enrique Piñeyro |
| Produced by |
Verónica Cura Enrique Piñeyro |
| Written by | Enrique Piñeyro Emiliano Torres |
| Starring | Enrique Piñeyro Mercedes Morán Alejandro Awada |
| Music by | Eduardo Criscuolo |
| Cinematography | Ramiro Civita |
| Edited by |
Alejandro Brodersohn Jacopo Quadri |
| Distributed by | MK2 Diffusion Aqua Films |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
105 minutes |
| Country | Argentina |
| Language | Spanish |
Whisky Romeo Zulu is a 2004 Argentine drama film directed by Enrique Piñeyro and written by Piñeyro and Emiliano Torres. Aqua Films' Verónica Cura was the executive producer and Enrique Piñeyro was the producer.
The drama is based on the experiences of Enrique Piñeyro, former airline pilot turned whistle-blower, who became a film actor-director, and of the August 31, 1999 LAPA (Líneas Aéreas Privadas Argentinas) airline accident.
The LAPA Boeing 737–200 plane, LAPA flight 3142, went into flames after crashing into a mound in midtown Buenos Aires, causing the death of 65 people, and severely injuring 17. The film's basic theme: the general corrosive deregulation, the greedy cost-cutting corporations, and the corrupt government officials, found in the Argentine airline industry. The film is named after the NATO phonetic alphabet version of the identifier of the accident aircraft, LV-WRZ (Lima Victor – Whisky Romeo Zulu)
The picture opens with the District Attorney (Adolfo Yanelli), listening to voices from a recording in the black box retrieved from an air disaster. The docudrama then tells the story of director Enrique Piñeyro, who plays himself as T, a principled pilot at LAPA, an Argentine airline, upset over his company's disregard of basic safety regulations in order to save money.
When T complains, he is labeled a troublemaker by the airline company. Soon he's chastised by his fellow pilots. When things get worse he walks out of the cockpit after multiple navigational instruments are inoperative and refuses to fly. The company simply replaces him and gets another pilot to fly. Increasingly frustrated and worried about a crash, T finally writes an angry letter to his superiors, warning that a crash is inevitable if action is not taken.
The letter is leaked to the media, and the airline is sold, but the new owners want Pineyro to retract his statement. Complicating matters, their public relations person is Marcela (Mercedes Morán), a love interest from his youth. Even though Marcela is married, T pursues her. T's story is inter-cut with the District Attorney who is looking into the LAPA flight 3142 crash, and starts receiving death threats. Yanelli's character manages to bring the company’s chief executives and the Argentine Air Force authorities before a criminal court, establishing a unique precedent in commercial aviation history.
...
Wikipedia