Emir Kusturica’s Documentary on Uruguay’s ex-President Pepe Mujica Comes to Netflix

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – From Friday August 23rd, Netflix will be including: “El Pepe, una vida suprema” (El Pepe, a Supreme Life) in its listings.

This is the documentary that renowned Serbian director Emir Kusturica filmed during three years, portraying the life of former leftist Uruguayan President José “Pepe” Mujica.

The Uruguayan and Argentinean co-production covers different moments in Mujica’s life, portraying a humble man who became president while remaining true to his beliefs, at the same time promoting and encouraging change.

As one meets the man who amazed the world for his values and became a phenomenon and reference, the director’s fascination with Mujica is evident.

“El Pepe, a Supreme Life” includes unprecedented footage of Mujica at the end of his presidential term, scenes from his daily life and talks with the filmmaker, filmed in 2014 in Montevideo and New York.

The documentary premiered hors concours at the Venice Film Festival 2018, and after the screening, Mujica was applauded by the audience.

A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, Mujica was imprisoned for 13 years during the military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s.

In total, Mujica was captured by the authorities on four occasions. He was among the more than one hundred Tupamaros who escaped Punta Carretas Prison in September 1971 by digging from inside the prison a tunnel that opened up at the living room of a nearby home.

In all, he spent 13 years in captivity and said that at the time he was suffering from auditory hallucinations and related forms of paranoia.

In 1985, when constitutional democracy was restored, Mujica was freed under an amnesty law that covered political and related military crimes committed since 1962.

Several years after the restoration of democracy, Mujica and many Tupamaros joined other left-wing organizations to create the Movement of Popular Participation, a political party that was accepted within the Broad Front coalition.

A member of the Broad Front coalition of left-wing parties, Mujica was Minister of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries from 2005 to 2008 and a Senator afterward. As the candidate of the Broad Front, he won the 2009 presidential election and took office as president on March 1, 2010.

He has been described as “the world’s humblest head of state” due to his austere lifestyle and his donation of around ninety percent of his US$12,000 monthly salary to charities that benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs.