(Nazareno Cruz and the Wolf)

Directed by Leonardo Favio

92 minutes

In Spanish with English subtitles

Here is a flick that explodes in ways you have never seen before. In a certain way it's a werewolf movie, but it is drenched in such poetry that it's knocked into another orbit. After all, it has a twist... it's an Argentinian movie, therefore everything is embedded in a deep folkloric tradition. It is another example where psychedelic experiences and folklore visions seem to be coming from the same source.

When a boy named Nazareno is born in a small mountain village he is the target of a local myth that says he will become a werewolf during full moons. Nazareno grows up surrounded by these rumors, but ignores the curse as silly superstition. As a teenager he becomes the most popular boy in town, and falls in love with a beautiful girl in the village. That's when, of course, the tables are turned. What results is a mythical tale studded with visual bursts of pure poetry... the magic of the cinematography and editing montages are nothing less than staggering. You find yourself following this twisted but easy-to-follow story, and then at key moments you are suddenly thrown into another world, the photography in these moments is mind-blowing. One viewer described it as "a dazzling cross between a folk poem and a pop song."

Within Argentina, this was the second most successful movie ever made, yet outside its country it's basically unknown and never shown. In fact, most of what has been promoted in the western world are Hollywood movies (and those of America's allies like Europe and Japan). They were able to delete the film productions of other countries around the world—like Argentina, along with the rest of  Latin and South America, the former east bloc, the entire continent of Africa, etc. Those voices were silenced, and the result is a huge part of the world has been flooded with only American-style cinema. So let's step out of our comfort zone and experience something that is really coming from a different vision.