Prisoners of the Land

Mario Soffici's 1939 Argentine film is set in the yerba mate plantations of the north. Workers are recruited in Posadas; those who sign against an advance are taken to the fields, and the debt is never cleared. The film names this arrangement. Workers who run are hunted down, the foreman uses violence, and the narrative shows this as the working of a system rather than as isolated incidents. A love story enters and raises the pressure. It is adapted from stories by Horacio Quiroga. It is counted among the classics of Argentine cinema and was considered harsh for its time. Who it's for: viewers of classic Latin American cinema and narratives of labour. Who it's not for: viewers expecting modern pacing; the film is from 1939 and works in the acting language of that period.