The Winter

Description

In Emiliano Torres’s observant, measured feature debut, the onset of winter affects both the aging foreman of a hardscrabble Patagonian sheep ranch and the younger man who comes there to work for the season. Having worked and overseen the farm for many years, the scarred and weather-worn Evans (played by The Clan‘s Alejandro Sieveking) is taken by surprise when a laconic new employee named Jara upsets the balance of power and threatens his job. Against a backdrop of stark and windswept plains where there’s not a thing to do but drink and fight after the day’s work ends, the conflict between the two men takes on the stature of a classic Western. Realistic scenes of sheep shearing and burly brawls between the gruff, hard-working ranch hands are contrasted with the moments when each of the two protagonists visits a wife or family member and makes an attempt at tenderness with the women in their lives. But it is the ranch that brings them back together for a final confrontation on a dark winter’s night, even as Torres suggests that their human struggle is dwarfed by an environment as vast and imposing as Patagonia.

Film Details