El bonaerense

Enrique Mendoza, called Zapa, is a quiet thirty-two year old locksmith in a provincial town. When he takes the fall for a break-in he did not plan, an uncle who used to be a policeman gets him enrolled in the Buenos Aires provincial force. Pablo Trapero's second feature is not built as a corruption thriller; it watches an institution gradually reshape a man in its own image through training, uniform, a first bribe and then routine. Jorge Roman plays him with almost no visible reaction, and the film's power lies in how quickly that blankness settles in. It screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2002. Who it is for: viewers drawn to the new Argentine cinema and to cool-headed institutional critique. Who it is not for: anyone who wants a clear villain and a verdict.