Scenario: Pergamino, a medium size town on the plains of Buenos Aires Province, about 150 km from the city of Buenos Aires. The protagonist, Carlos, is a veteran of the 1982 Malvinas/Falklands war. Back from the battlefield he wasn't able to cope with the memories of the horror or to reintegrate in society. His family dissolved, and he is trying ineffectually to reconnect with his son, whom he saw last as a baby and must be now in his twenties. He lives in and near a town square. He is known in the neighborhood, makes a few pesos doing menial jobs like sweeping sidewalks and is frequently helped by the locals with handouts of food and other items. He carries his few belongings in a makeshift cart.
One winter night, Carlos is unable to find refuge in a shelter and, from then on, the movie shows his desperate fight to survive he night, not an easy feat in the Pergamino winter, where night temperatures are frequently several degrees below freezing.
This is it. We live in a society where homelessness is an accepted feature, as long as the homeless are kept out of sight. We look at the problem with nonchalance; as a recent American President callously said. "What we have found in this country, and maybe we're more aware of it now, is one problem that we've had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless who are homeless, you might say, by choice." We attempt to soothe our consciences by trying to believe that the homeless are drug addicts or mental cases, not people like us fallen on hard times. This movie show the other side of the coin, what we perhaps don't want to see and is, at times, very hard to watch. Production values are high, direction is fluid, and acting (especially from Juan Palomino, playing Carlos) is flawless. An unusual, quality film.
