A small village in the rural south of Chile is turned upside when the ban on harvesting the Chilean Abalone is lifted. The shellfish is known as “el loco,” also the word in Spanish for crazy. The movie takes advantage of this double meaning and has been released under the English title as both “Loco Fever” and “Abalone Fever.”
As a powerful aphrodisiac, the shellfish is highly sought after and El Canuto, a corrupt dealer, is the first to take advantage of this. Arriving at Puerto Gala, he convinces the community to sell him the entire harvest of abalone for sale to a Japanese company. With him he brings young Jorge who soon becomes romantically involved with a girl at the local bar while El Canuto, who has been there before, has enough love problems of his own.
Everyone soon gets the “abalone fever,” harvesting huge amounts of the shell fish with the dreams of becoming rich. To the horror of the women in the village, a band of prostitutes also arrive looking to benefit from the aphrodisiac to make some money for themselves. Unfortunately, a turn of events looks to be ominous.
Un pequeño pueblo rural del sur de Chile se pone patas arriba al levantarse la prohibición de la cosecha del abulón chileno. Al marisco se le conoce como “el loco”. La película aprovecha este doble sentido y fue lanzada con dos títulos en inglés: “Loco Fever” (La Fiebre del Loco” y “Abalone Fever” (La Fiebre del Abulón).
Al marisco se le considera un poderoso afrodisíaco, por lo que es muy buscado; el Canuto, un comerciante corrupto, es el primero en tomar ventaja de esto. Al llegar a Puerto Gala, convence a la comunidad para que le venda toda la cosecha de abulón para él vendérselo a una empresa japonesa. Con él viene el joven Jorge, quien pronto se enamora de una chica del bar local mientras el Canuto, que ha estado antes allí, tiene sus propios problemas amorosos.
Todos se contagian de la “fiebre del abulón” y cosechan grandes cantidades del marisco, con el sueño de llegar a ser ricos. Para horror de las mujeres de la aldea, también llega un grupo de prostitutas quienes buscan beneficiarse del afrodisíaco para obtener algo de dinero. Por desgracia, un giro de los acontecimientos parece ser siniestro.
SPANISH LESSON
“Un pequeño pueblo rural… se pone patas arriba” Literally means “A small rural town… is with its legs up” but the real meaning is “A small rural town… is turned upside down.”
We say that something is “patas arriba” = “with its legs up” (upside down) when it is messy, in a chaotic state. The expression is used related to places such as a room, a house, a warehouse, a store …
We use this term because it is natural that the legs hold the rest of the item (for example, the legs of a table hold up the top board of the table, the legs of the animals support the rest of their body, etc.), if the legs are upward, they are in an unnatural position, disordered.
Example: “Luis, tu habitación está patas arriba, ve a ordenarla”.
“Luis, your bedroom is all upside down, go and put some order in it.”