Born and Bred

A man is forced to pick up the pieces of a shattered life in this emotional drama from Argentine filmmaker Pablo Trapero. Santiago (Guillermo Pfening) is a successful interior designer with a beautiful and loving wife, Milli (Martina Gusman); a happy and healthy young daughter, Josefina (Victoria Vescio); and a beautiful home. Santiago's charmed life comes to a crashing halt when an accident during a trip to visit relatives takes the life of Milli and Josefina, forcing the emotionally scarred husband and father to survive on his own. Santiago leaves his old life and career behind and moves to Patagonia in Southern Argentina, where he takes a job in a small airport and lives alone in a tiny shack. Santiago struggles to make it through his work days and usually devotes his evenings to drowning his memories in liquor, often joined by his friends Robert (Federico Esquerro) and Cacique (Tomas Lipan). While Santiago refuses to talk about his life before he came to Patagonia, it's obvious to everyone that he's haunted by something terrible, though Santiago is a long time in coming to terms with the demons that haunt him. Nacido y Criado (aka Born and Bred) received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival.~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide