Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Tabarnouche The Acacia (a.k.a. thorn tree, whistling thorn, wattle) is a genus of shrubs and trees, often spine-bearing (outside Australia). Its name derives from the Greek word for thorn. The tree has long been associated with the shores of the Nile, although its varieties are found worldwide.The Acacia's reputation precedes its début as film title. It has come to symbolize resurrection and immortality. Egyptian mythology ties the acacia to the tree of life. In Freemasonry it embodies purity, even endurance of the soul. Acacias also fill needs for timber and firewood.Las Acacias opens as Rubén, a lorry driver, wanders among timber harvesters in Paraguay as they pile high his flatbed with acacia boles. He will cross the Argentine border to take acacia timber to market in Buenos Aires.At the request of his boss, Rubén will also take Jacinta (of indigenous origin) and, to his surprise, her 8-month-old infant with him. Jacinta has arranged to visit her cousin in Buenos Aires and will probably look for work there.It's a long trip. Much of the film is shot looking into the lorry cabin through the windows on either side of the flatbed tractor. Dialog is spare and deliberate. On the occasions when Jacinta is asked about the baby's father, for instance, she replies — without a trace of bitterness — "The baby has no father." Rubén and Jacinta exchange first names. She teaches Rubén some words in her native language. Rubén defers to Jacinta and the baby by smoking outside when the lorry is stopped. She waits patiently, as he does for her when twice he pulls his rig over so that she can phone her cousin.The cast has only three members — one of whom can't yet talk and is prone to incontinence — but all are well chosen. It would be hard to imagine other actors who could fill the roles as well.Rubén and Jacinta, hardened but not deadened, have gracefully resigned themselves to their lots. Each has an incomplete family. Neither seems to be expecting anything special from life. Both have facial contours that reward the repeated scrutiny of tight shots.Whether by precocious talent or by NSA connivance, Anahí (that's the baby) puts in a stellar performance. Not only does she (the Actor) seem mysteriously disposed to respond on cue flawlessly, but her Character (much like the Actor) also brings out the best in Rubén and Jacinta. It's likely that the two of them would otherwise have passed the trip in awkward silence. (Those who, like me, consider all babies of Anahí's age to be more or less indistinguishable from one another have another think coming.)Las Acacias extols, without exalting, the quiet delights that arise unbidden in everyday life. Pablo Giorgelli (director and writer) and writer Salvador Roselli acknowledge what is mundane about road culture. And they show us how prosaically enjoyable those encounters could still be in the Argentina of 2011, as they might have been in mythic 1950s America. Despite the vagaries and precariousness of that life, therein lies contentment of a sort. Speech figures far less prominently in it than do glances, gestures, civility, and trust born of experience.Nothing explodes into flame in this film. No one gets shot or tasered or even spit at. No voices are raised. No one hoodwinks anyone else. No lawyers, no strivers, no moneychangers, no Mr Burnses. No phonies. In other words, another iteration of magical realism.A hint of resolution comes just before the credits roll. We fade to black full of hope, if not change.Las Acacias ends as it began: with shots of acacias. The kind that grow and are felled, and the kind that move about on two legs.

rstout3526 A visual narrative on ordinary folk with a simple but instantly recognisable theme - loneliness. Argentina of late has produced some magical road films featuring the lives of everyday characters - and they are all a joy to watch. It matters not that the dialogue, what little there is of it, is in Spanish. It could be a silent film or dubbed in Arabic. The film speaks for itself. It is so well crafted. A roughneck lorry driver who has travelled the highways of Argentina for 30 years and used to his own space, is ordered by his boss to take one of his journeys south to Buenos Aries with a passenger - a young mother and child. Gradually, as the journey progresses and he becomes more and more frustrated with the noise and demands of the child, but a bond slowly comes through. This is a very touching film and very well made. The open road is shown not as dramatic backdrop in panorama - but as a close-up with each of the characters in the shot. There are a number of comments made by reviewers here that liken the film to watching paint dry etc. I think these people went to the cinema expecting another Die Hard, Steven Seagal, Van Damme, Terminator shoot em up Hollywood rubbish. Suggest that in future they read the poster before venturing further.Cinema isn't just there to entertain (or make money) it is also to educate and generate thought. Well recommended piece of social realism.

jotix100 Ruben, a truck driver, begins a journey in Paraguay that will change his life. He has agreed to pick up a friend of his boss and brings her to Buenos Aires. Little does he know the woman will show up with a five month baby. Ruben is taking a truck full of logs in a trip that will take him into the heart of Argentina toward the capital of the country.Ruben is at first skeptical of what he is going to do. He must go through the border customs, figuring the woman is going to Argentina to stay illegally, so he will only be compounding on the problem. Yet, albeit reluctantly, he decides to take her along. Jacinta, the passenger, tells the customs agent the baby has no father. She, like many of her poor fellow Paraguayans end up working as lowly pad maids in Argenine's households.The trip does not start auspiciously. Ruben, who appears to be a solitary man, does not take well the crying of the baby, but to his credit, he does not complain. Figuring he made a promise, now he has to fulfill it. As the two ride in almost total silence, Jacinta, is a soothing presence in his otherwise solitary ride, something he must endures in his long distance travels. The baby, Anahi, is a cute addition. We get to know a bit of Ruben's past. He confesses of having a son whom he met when the boy was four, and have not seen him in eight years. By the end of the trip Jacinta has cast a spell on Ruben. He did not think he was going to be affected the way he did.Pablo Giorgelli, the director of "Las Acacias" is a minimalist. There is almost no dialogues during the trip, and yet, a whole story comes out effortlessly. To his credit, the film has a rhythm of its own, keeping the viewer with the three occupants of the cab of truck. The director and Salvador Rosell created a plausible screenplay that has a good feeling because of the interaction, albeit subtle between Ruben and Jacinta. In spite of some negative comments to this forum, one never felt bored by the almost static setting and action in the film. Mr. Giorgelli creates an atmosphere of tolerance on Ruben's part and ultimately of acceptance and even tenderness at the end of the trip.German De Silva, a character actor has great moments in the film by underplaying a role. This solitary man, accustomed to a lonely life, is rattled softly from his routine by accepting to take a stranger as a favor. Jacinta, played subtly by Hebe Duarte, compliments Mr. De Silva in unexpected ways. The cute baby, Nayra Calle, makes an adorable distraction.

slowboatmo The film "les acacias" has few dialogues, yet it has a mysterious power to rivet the audiences from the beginning to the end. One has to attribute its success to every one of its meticulously crafted shots that is full of meaning and significance. The audiences get to observe and to appreciate the boredom of the life of truck driver but are never bored themselves since it is precisely the kind of boredom that they can emphasize with. As the movie goes along, two new characters, the woman and her baby, are introduced. Yet their presence on the screen is so natural that we can no longer differentiate their lives from the truckdriver's. The director manages to capture the authenticity of human interaction so well that we are not even aware that we are watching a movie with fictitious plot and characters. We feel that we are observing real life unfolding at every moment of the film, which we savor eagerly as we know that it will slip away both for us and the characters in the film. At the end, we can't help but shed a few tears for the brutal separation that will keep the three anonymous strangers apart forever. For me, the movie "les acacias" is one of the most realistic, touching films that I have seen. The height of realism it has achieved, combined with the depth of its meaning make it a film that is not easily surpassed by most modern films of this genre.