Carancho by Pablo Trapero

A Carancho is an American bird of prey, an opportunistic hunter which usually strikes young or injured animals. It is also the label given to the protagonist of the new film by Argentinean director Pablo Trapero. Lawyer Sosa (Ricardo Darin) has lost his license and is making a living working for a shady firm which makes money out of compensation for traffic accidents.

Carancho begins by recalling that in Argentina, each year road crashes cause more than 8,000 deaths and 120,000 injuries. The victims of these tragedies face medical expenses and lawyers’ fees; the “caranchos” take advantage of their misery to get business.

Luján (Martina Gusman), a young doctor recently arrived in the city, is coping with a new, unfamiliar world and an exhausting work schedule. She meets Sosa in the street whilst trying to save the life of a victim - his first preoccupation is to find a new client. Together they try to change the course of their lives, but seem stuck in the inertia of a corrupted system, which draws them into a spiral of madness, despair and violence.

With Carancho, Trapero goes beyond entertaining fiction. As in El Bonaerense, he uses the abstract to denounce exploitative practises which are spreading like a cancer.

By Damien Sueur