The Employer and the Employee

As the title suggests, this slow-burning drama depicts parallel lives and how the dynamics of money and power play out in the wake of tragedy. On a Uruguayan farm close to the Brazilian border, the owner’s son Rodrigo is put in charge of daily operations. He hires teenage tractor driver Carlos, promising sponsorship in an upcoming horse race in return for starting work immediately. Both young men are new fathers, and the film deftly explores the imbalances in the two households. When a calamity strikes, the stakes are raised and the tenuous friendship between Rodrigo and Carlos evolves into a darker portrait of rivalry and economic disparity.