Las Acacias [DVD]

This is a gentle, involving and finally moving film about a journey through Paraguay and then Argentina, ending in Buenos Aires. Jancita (Hebe Duarte) travels with the truck driver Ruben (German de Silva). She will visit her cousin and spend some time there. Fernando, Ruben's boss, has arranged the lift, but Ruben is reluctant, particularly as Jacinta, whom he does not know, brings her five-month-old baby. Almost all of the film is shot in the truck cabin, on the road or at stopping places en route. To begin with there is very little conversation but as time goes on the atmosphere thaws and Ruben begins to accept, and then to like Jacinta and her baby. It becomes clear that both have sadness in their lives - Ruben has a son, but no contact with him, and Jacinta's baby has 'no father' ; in addition, a phone call she makes on the journey brings her great distress, though we never find out why. Eventually they reach the cousin's house and the journey is over, and then something unexpected happens. The film ends with a shot of Ruben at the wheel of his truck. His expression is difficult to judge, and it leaves you wondering. The story is not over, but how it will continue and end is uncertain, with the possibility of both happiness and disappointment very real.

The film is made with great subtlety. The director, Pablo Giorgelli, who also wrote the screenplay, shows just enough of the two principals for us to become involved in their situations and to empathise with them. The actors, de Silva and Duarte, are marvellous, as indeed is Mayra Calle Mamani, the baby, who is both absolutely natural and absolutely charming. As the big Scania truck rumbles on, pulling its huge load of acacia logs, we become more and more interested in them and more and more eager that all will end well for them, and the fact that the film ends uncertainly is no weakness, merely a mirroring of how things often really are in life. It's an excellent and original film, and well worth seeing

I was really impressed with this film-there is some great work coming out of Argentina at the moment.

The film plods a long with some periods of no dialogue but the interaction between the 2 main characters really grows during the film.

Definitely worth a watch.

A simple but very human story of two diffident bruised people, thrown together by chance, and finally realising their similarities. No thrills, but quiet pleasure for this viewer, and the baby is gorgeous!