Review by hof-4

Rivadavia is a department of the Argentine province of San Juan lying on the foothills of the Andes massif, a few kilometers west of the provincial capital. Some years ago most of the refuse from the city was deposited untreated in the open garbage dump of La Bebida, Rivadavia, where a large group of unemployed, homeless people (Los Nadies, The Nobodies) lived among and the garbage in precarious shanties, in appalling sanitary conditions and eked out a miserable living by collecting and selling whatever they could find of commercial value (cardboard, aluminum, rags).

This movie is their story and that of Natalia, a social worker sent by the provincial government to make a report on the situation of the inhabitants of the dump with a view to their eviction. Through her few contacts in the provincial government, she finally manages to convince the Governor of the province that to eliminate the dump and construct a recycling plant giving jobs to the former dump dwellers would have a large political dividend. The movie, although based in a real story is not a documentary and most of the characters are fictional.

This is the first feature film in commercial cinema that was shot entirely in San Juan province. The provincial government contributed financing and settings for the filming. Some of the actors are amateurs. From the professionals, Guadalupe Docampo is on screen in almost every scene and rises to the challenge brilliantly. Direction by Néstor Sánchez Sotelo (from a script written by himself and Mateo Chiarino) is fluid and well paced. Good cinematography and unobtrusive music. Overall, a movie worth watching.