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VILLA

By Pablo TRAPERO

Drama - Development 2011

Two Catholic priests are old friends from their days at the seminary. One is on an assistance mission in the Argentinean slums while the other tries to lead him through the meandering paths of justice, faith and local power.

- Year of production
- 2011
- Genres
- Drama, Thriller
- Countries
- ARGENTINA
- Budget
- 5 - 10 M$
- Director(s)
- Pablo TRAPERO
- Synopsis
- Father Augusto and Father Dario met when both were teenagers and were studying to become
  priests. They soon became close friends. Augusto was more into being a missionary in extreme
  places in the Third World whereas Dario was promoted in the ecclesiastic career to the point
  where his own contact with faith and his activism became accessories.
  Years later, Augusto is settled in some remote area in the Asian jungle. He was sent on a mission
  that failed, so he has sunk into a great depression and is undergoing a great crisis in faith, feeling
  that the best thing for his life would be to come to an end. Hearing the news, Dario travels
  especially to contact him. Dario finds Augusto almost unconscious in an emergency room, in the
  middle of the jungle with a severely wounded leg. Dario takes Augusto home immediately then
  gives him a chance to start out on a different mission in a shantytown in the city of Buenos Aires.
  With Dario’s help, Augusto settles down in a chapel in the slums. Dario remains close to him, pays him visits and gets funds to keep up the church activities and its development. However, each priest’s objectives are different. Augusto spends his days solving daily problems in the
  neighborhood. Dario moves in another direction. The slum is for him a place of political activity.
  However, Augusto’s daily routine of prayer and charity looks insignificant in the face of what really
  takes place in the slums. Violence escalates by the day. Youngsters die from being on hard drugs,
  or fighting against the police. And now that he is back in good shape, he confronts his true
  calling: to be a man of action. His far from orthodox methods catch everyone’s attention: he no
  longer celebrates mass or talks about God, and he wears tattoos and a pistol round his belt; all in
  order to win over the community’s respect.
  But as Augusto gets deeper into the troubles in the slums and the crime network, he discovers
  that his friend and ally are at the very center. It is Dario who allows corrupt and petty business
  within the lawless slums. It is through his alliance with key politicians and criminals that he keeps
  up his power within the slums. Therefore, Dario and Augusto, again turn out to have different
  missions. Although they find it hard to admit, they have even become enemies.