Not long ago, we all enjoyed an awesome Argentine film, “Relatos salvajes” (“Wild tales”), written and directed by Damián Szifron, who thus summarized the theme of the movie: “the fuzzy boundary that separates civilization from barbarism, the vertigo of losing your temper, and the undeniable pleasure of losing control”. Some critics called Szifron’s film “Characters on the verge of a nervous breakdown”, alluding to Almodóvar’s “Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown”. That was «harmless» fiction, but nowadays we all witness wild street scenes in our big cities almost every day. There’s a structural violence in our society that’s pretty scary and worrying. Anger, frustration, a need for revenge. I’m not talking about “motochorros” (thieves on motorcycles that steal backpacks, purses, cellphones, etc,), but about common citizens- all of us- who over react and seem unable to suppress our most basic instincts. We should give it some thought, shouldn’t we?

Publised on Buenos Aires Times