Men of Hard Skin

The power of this Argentine drama is shrouded in modesty. Through the prism of only two relationships, José Celestino Campusano sketches the difficult way sexuality is treated in different layers of Argentine society. Ariel is a good-looking farm boy who lives with his father and sister in a rural part of Buenos Aires province. He has become familiar with sex thanks to Omar, a priest with whom he has a secret affair. The film begins when Omar ends their relationship. Campusano sketches a complex but unsentimental and realistic picture of sex and abuse. He shows how the church tries to hide transgressions; how priests themselves have sometimes been the victims of this; how people regard prostitutes as a remedy for homosexuality. Despite everything, Ariel starts to trust his own body more, and trusts the patriarchal world around him less. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)