Juan Moreira

Leonardo Favio's 1973 Argentine film follows Juan Moreira, a mule driver at the end of the nineteenth century. He is a good worker and gaucho, but pressure from the police and the landowners turns him step by step into an outlaw. The film does not construct that change as heroism. Each act of violence by Moreira follows from the last, and the possibility of turning back closes a little further each time; the narrative shows how he arrived here without vindicating him. Favio is formally bold; the slow motion, the intervention in colour and the use of music are unusual for Argentine cinema of the period. The film reached one of the highest attendance figures the country had seen and carried the gaucho narrative into popular cinema. Who it's for: those who like Latin American cinema and historical popular legend. Who it's not for: viewers uncomfortable with graphic violence; the knife fights are long and detailed.