The Militant
Description
A packinghouse workers strike forms the backdrop to this coming-of-age story set during the economic crisis in 2002 Uruguay. Ariel, a leader of a university occupation in support of the strike in the capital of Montevideo, learns that his father has died. He goes home for the burial and finds other like-minded youngsters. Though beset by a speech impediment and a partly palsied right arm, Ariel’s earnest, low-key demeanor earns the respect of his peers, even though they can’t seem to get to step two of radical politics, favoring sex, drugs and rock and roll instead. Felipe Dieste portrays Ariel with a perfect ambiguity: from the radical thinker certain what the next step for the movement should be, to the bewildered Everyman who struggles to make sense of his world as the student revolutionary becomes the boss of his father’s ranch and finds himself responsible for paying months of back wages to the gauchos stiffed by his dad. This sensitive, multilayered film, brimming with metaphor and suggestion, was the most-awarded film at the Havana Film Festival, winning second place for best narrative feature, best cinematography and the film critics’ FIPRESCI Prize. —Miguel Pendás
Born in Montevideo in 1972, Manolo Nieto graduated from the Catholic University of Uruguay in 1995 with a degree in media studies. His first job was on Uruguayan broadcast TV, where he worked as a production coordinator until 1999, when he began to work in film. His films include the short Nico & Parker (2000). In 2005, he participated in Cine en Construcción 7 with his well-regarded first feature, The Dog Pound. In 2007, he founded Roken Films in order to be able to produce his film projects independently.
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/88110279?autoplay=1Film Details
Language Spanish
Original Language Title El lugar del hijo
Year 2013
Runtime 121
Country Uruguay/Argentina
Director Manolo Nieto
Producer Lisandro Alonso, Andy Kleinman
Writer Manolo Nieto
Editor Pablo Riera, Martín Mainoli
Cinematographer Arauco Hernández Holz
Music Genuflexos
Cast Felipe Dieste, Alejandro Urdapilleta, Rosana Cabrera
Print Source FiGa Films/ alex@figafilms.com