Benjamin Naishtat
El juego - Film - 2010
presented as part of the exhibition Panorama 12
Film
Several men wander in the jungle desperately looking for each other. They move alone or in pairs, in plain clothes or in military uniform. They are all well armed, no matter if the guns are real or not. At midday, they come together for a meal. In this game, as in any relationship between different individuals, there is the establishment of hierarchies, jealousies, insecurities, weaknesses and the predominance of the strong. This project tries to observe without too much emotion the cycle of violence, to capture the short distance between the absurd, the banal and the tragic. Undeniably linked to the reality of the historical cycles in Argentina and Latin America, I have tried to detach this film from any direct link to the precise spatiotemporal context, looking to displace it into a sort of endless loop. Filmed in the jungle of the Delta Islands of the Parana in Argentina, The Game is played in part by young non-actors who were not aware of the scenario. One of their main motivations was to participate in the game of war itself, which they often do for fun and also in the team-building activities organised by the companies they work for.
