A traumatized 10 year old poor boy, Mateo, living in the Buenos Aires of 1912, has supernatural powers. He was abused at an early age. Living in precarious condition with her mother, Estela, and her policeman lover, Octavio, he gets visions about crimes being committed by an unknown serial killer. The police suspects Mateo to know much more than he reveals. After several horrendous murders involving children start happening in a poor neighborhood, the police is puzzled as to the motive and the identity of the assassin.
There is a photographer who is involved in child pornography at the root of some of the killings. This man even comes to Mateo asking him to pose for him with another young girl. Mateo is horrified, and walks away from the man. Mateo who loves to run tends to play with a group of poor kids from his neighborhood. Mateo is the only positive link the police has to get to the serial killer.
Director Jorge Algora, a Spaniard document maker, makes his regular feature debut with a tale of horror, based on a real case that occurred in Buenos Aires in the first part of the twentieth century. Mr. Algora also help in the adaptation of the original material. The movie is too somber for its own good. The gloomy atmosphere, made even darker by Suso Bello's cinematography, did not help the overall effect of doom from the start of the story.
Maribel Verdu plays Estela. She is a good actress that tends to go for roles that don't do much for her. Daniel Freire is a puzzle. He is an Argentine actor based in Spain, plays the police commissioner Petrie. Chete Lera doesn't have much to do with his forensic doctor. Abel Ayala and Juan Cianco, that appear as Cayetano and Mateo, have some good moments.
There is a photographer who is involved in child pornography at the root of some of the killings. This man even comes to Mateo asking him to pose for him with another young girl. Mateo is horrified, and walks away from the man. Mateo who loves to run tends to play with a group of poor kids from his neighborhood. Mateo is the only positive link the police has to get to the serial killer.
Director Jorge Algora, a Spaniard document maker, makes his regular feature debut with a tale of horror, based on a real case that occurred in Buenos Aires in the first part of the twentieth century. Mr. Algora also help in the adaptation of the original material. The movie is too somber for its own good. The gloomy atmosphere, made even darker by Suso Bello's cinematography, did not help the overall effect of doom from the start of the story.
Maribel Verdu plays Estela. She is a good actress that tends to go for roles that don't do much for her. Daniel Freire is a puzzle. He is an Argentine actor based in Spain, plays the police commissioner Petrie. Chete Lera doesn't have much to do with his forensic doctor. Abel Ayala and Juan Cianco, that appear as Cayetano and Mateo, have some good moments.