White Elephant

Set in a shantytown slum in Buenos Aires, this fascinating film from director Pablo Trapero weaves together the lives of three people as they try to make life better for the people who call the abandoned hospital they live in their home. Ricardo Darín (The Secret in Their Eyes) stars as Father Julian, the longtime spiritual leader of the people, a man who knows his time on earth is fast coming to a close. Jérémie Renier costars as Father Nicolas, the young priest sent by the Mother Church as a possible replacement of Father Julian, and Martina Gusman plays Luciana, Father Julian’s assistant whose presence in the story is making Father Nicolas question his vows. The characters are all developed well enough, and brought to life with great passion by the cast, that the story could be told on a blank stage and still be compelling The way that Trapero makes the slum they all survive its own character in the movie raises White Elephant to the level of cinematic art.