When Argentine director Lisandro Alonso’s feature debut, Freedom (La Libertad), premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2001, it struck a cord with hardcore cinephiles who saw something special in the film’s minimalist narrative and transfixing visuals, which captured the quiet beauties of life in a remote corner of the Pampas.
Chronicling the daily routine of a logger, Misael (Misael Saavedra), residing in a ramshackle cabin in the middle of nowhere, Alonso painstakingly depicted the existence of a man whose extreme liberty — from modern civilization; from worry; from a regular movie plot — was undercut by a darkness that seemed to be lurking just beneath the surface.
Double Freedom
The Bottom Line
A minimalist drama that highlights life's quiet pleasures.
