Waiting for the Messiah

In 1999 the Argentine currency collapses. Ariel, a young man from the Jewish community of Buenos Aires, deals with his mother’s fatal illness, finds night shift work monitoring surveillance cameras, and wonders when he will discover sex. Santamaria, middle aged, loses his job at a bank and is put out of the house by his wife; he starts returning stolen wallets he finds in dumpsters to their owners. Ariel passes his story to Laura, a television reporter who profiles people living on the street. Ariel wants Laura; Santamaria grows close to Elsa, a washroom attendant whose husband is in prison. As Christmas and Hanukkah approach, whether anyone can reach anyone else is left open. Daniel Hendler plays the lead in Daniel Burman’s ninety eight minute Argentine film, completed in 2000.