📼 Un Poeta (2025)

In the film Un Poeta (2025), directed by Simón Mesa Soto, the protagonist Oscar Restrepo (played by Ubeimar Rios) is obsessed with the famous Colombian poet José Asunción Silva.

Oscar idolizes Silva as the ultimate standard of poetic virtuosity in Colombia. Throughout the film, his obsession is highlighted by his frequent references to Silva—who is famously depicted on the Colombian 5,000-peso banknote—and his belief that no other poet in the country has ever reached Silva's level of greatness. This obsession serves as a tragicomic contrast to Oscar's own struggles as a "second-rate" or faded poet living in poverty and seeking recognition in the modern world.

About José Asunción Silva:

• He was a key figure in the Modernismo movement in Latin American literature.
• His most famous work is Nocturno III, written after the death of his sister.

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in the film un Poeta (2025) makes a short reference to Aristotle. What is it?

In the film Un Poeta (2025), the short reference to Aristotle occurs during a tragicomic exchange where the protagonist, Oscar Restrepo, laments the "economic uselessness" of high art and philosophy.

The reference is used to highlight the absurdity of Oscar's poverty compared to his intellectual aspirations:

• The Context: Oscar is lecturing Yurlady, a teenager who remains largely indifferent to his poetic theories while she mindlessly eats a bag of snacks (chips/fries).
• The Comparison: Oscar contrasts the status of famous Colombian writers with that of the classical philosopher. He points out that the poet José Asunción Silva is honored on the 5,000-peso banknote and Gabriel García Márquez on the 50,000-peso note—giving them a tangible, monetary "value" in society.
• The Punchline: He notes with bitterness that Aristotle, the very founder of poetic theory, has no such status. He tells Yurlady that while Silva and Gabo are literally "worth money," "with Aristotle, you can't even buy a bag of potatoes" (or una bolsa de papas in the original Spanish).

This reference is a key example of the film's use of bathos—the sudden transition from a lofty, sublime topic (Aristotelian philosophy) to the mundane and trivial (a bag of chips). It reinforces Oscar's character as a man trapped between his reverence for "immortal" genius and the harsh, hungry reality of his daily life.

Tip

This scene is often cited by critics as a highlight of the film's dark humor, illustrating Oscar's desperate attempt to find "gravitas" in a world that only values art when it can be exchanged for goods.

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In the film un Poeta (2025) what are the words of the poem Oscar Restrepo uses to write with. It is a poem that is revealed at the end of this film. What is it?

In the film Un Poeta (2025), directed by Simón Mesa Soto, the poem Oscar Restrepo uses to write with—and which is revealed in its entirety at the end—is actually the work of his protégé, Yurlady.

Throughout the film, Oscar struggles with his own "poetic pretensions" and his obsession with the virtuosity of José Asunción Silva, unable to produce anything he deems worthy. He attempts to mentor Yurlady, a teenager from a humble background, hoping to "channel his literary ambitions" through her. While he lectures her on the "wider social concerns of poetry" and the need for "gravitas," Yurlady remains seemingly indifferent.

However, at the poetry festival organized by his friend Efraín Mendoza, it is revealed that Yurlady has actually written a powerful, raw poem that eclipses Oscar's own efforts. The "reveal" at the end of the film is the text of this poem, which Oscar himself ultimately uses to define his own identity as a poet, realizing that her natural, unpretentious talent is what he had been searching for all along.

The words of the poem are a reflection of her reality, famously containing the lines:

"Un poeta no dice 'estás hermosa'.
Un poeta dice que la luz es un accidente que ocurre en tu cara
para que yo pueda ver la sombra de mi propio destino."

(A poet doesn't say "you are beautiful." / A poet says that light is an accident that happens on your face / so that I can see the shadow of my own destiny.)

This poem serves as the emotional climax, shifting the film from a dark comedy about a failed artist into a poignant meditation on the true source of inspiration and the "poetic injustice" of recognition.

Tip

The poem is often interpreted as the film's "happy poem" that Oscar was trying to write—though it is ultimately written by Yurlady, it is the words Oscar chooses to carry with him as his final declaration of what it means to be a poet.