El camino de San Diego (2006) Online

The Argentinian director Carlos Sorin has staked out a small but secure place for himself in the world of cinema. His gentle road movies have tended to use non-actors in congenial roles to depict wanderings in obscure regions (mostly somewhere in Patagonia or the far south of the country). The most recent Sorin films concerned traveling dog show followers ('Bombon, el perro') and a small collection of minor people whose tales were intertwined ('Historias Minimas'). This time his main traveler is more driven, and has a more mainstream mission. He makes it almost all the way to Buenos Aires, and he is, essentially, doing what millions do, or would like to.

Tati Benitez (Ignacio Benítez) is a fanatical sports fan. What could be more fanatical in Argentina than the need to worship and follow Diego Maradona, the soccer god? There's nothing offbeat about Diego. Tati, a healthy young fellow who has a sweet and honest and innocent and rather pretty face, lives in a remote village in the Misiones jungle with his pregnant wife (Paola Rotela, the actor's actual, and actually then pregnant, wife). Tati's uniform is a soccer shirt with Maradona's number 10 on it and has a huge 10 tattooed on his back. Fellow villagers joke that he's married to the star. The presentation of Tati's obsession is tongue in cheek, as various villagers tell the camera about it. He's even got two parrots who chime "Maradona."

Times are tough and Tati has lost his job as a lumberjack. He goes to work for Silva (Miguel Gonzales Colman), an ancient Indian woodcarver who speaks only the guaraní language, learning the trade in exchange for small rewards. His wife is at home expecting the baby. Tati learns all about the kinds of wood. One day in a forest looking for good pieces to carve in a heavy rainstorm Tati finds a big root rising up out of the ground that he thinks is the spitting image of his soccer idol standing with arms lifted in triumph after scoring a goal. Thinking himself blessed by the magical appearance in his path of this symbolic object, Tati lugs the root back and in time Silva brings out the likeness. We never quite get a good look at the whole thing up close, but it's clear the resemblance is largely in the eye of the beholder, and grows in proportion to one's fandom. Eventually, the news comes (this is in 2004, when it happened) that Maradona has had a heart attack and is in intensive care in Buenos Aires. Everyone hangs on watching communal TV's. When he first hears the news, Tati thinks it's just a bad joke. After a few days "El Diego" is reported to have abruptly left the hospital. Later he's reported to be playing golf at a club.

A youth club has offered to accept the carved root, but after consulting with a fortune teller, Tati, Sorin's rural sports fan everyman, decides he must make the pilgrimage to his idol and present it directly to him. He goes off, the carving wrapped in black plastic secured with a rope. Of course people keep asking what it is and he must unveil it. He meets lots of people along the way, including the main actors in 'Bombon', Juan Villegas, in a camera shop, and Walter Donado, driving an ambulance. Also notable is Maria Marta Alvez as a girl from a roadside brothel and Lila Caceres as a young wife on a pilgrimage to pray to the cowboy saint, Gauchito Gil. Most notable, because they are together longest, is Waguinho (Carlos Wagner La Bella, actually a film producer), a big burly bearded Brazilian driving a giant truck, who when he hears about the sculpture at first refuses to give Tati a ride, Maradona of course being no friend of Brazil, where the god of soccer, in case you didn't know, is Pelé (Edson Arantes do Nascimento), who, dare we say it, is the greatest soccer player of all time. (But it only said "arguably," -- and that was on a Brazilian website.) Waguiho does give Tati a long ride, and his rambling monologues bring home the folkloric aspects of football worship. After all, the big carved root is a kind of idol, and it's clear the common people in Latin America come close to attributing supernatural powers to their athletic deities.

When Tati finally gets to the place where Maradona's supposed to be, he finds a whole encampment. It's surely no accident that "San Diego" could signify the athlete's sainthood -- though his failings -- drug excess, obesity, sheer unruliness -- do not go unmentioned either -- and Santiago (i.e., San Diego) de Compostela is a famous Christian religious pilgrim's destination. This is the clearest sign that Sorin's work feels more mainstream this time, not only because he is dealing with an object of mass popularity, but because where Tati goes is where, in a sense, everyone in the country wants to be at this moment. And not only that, but there is a kind of accomplishment in the handling of crowd scenes, shots of big trucks in motion full of standing riders, not to mention Tati and the Brazilian in the big cab, all showing more technical ambition this time. There is a kind of propulsive forward energy in 'El Camino de San Diego' that 'Bombon' and 'Historias Minimas' lacked. The love of ordinary folk, of the little guy, the forgotten person, is stronger, more touching than ever this time. Sorin might reach a larger audience with this film. If ever there was a feel-good movie, this is it. There is at the same time a certain sense of loss. Carlos Sorin no longer seems an obscure director one loves in a special way because hardly anyone else knows or cares about him -- but that was really never true anyway.

Shown as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival 2007.

Tati Benitez, a young man living in Northern Argentina, works in the wood mill industry of the region. When he loses his job, Tati begins getting wood he finds all over that he uses for carving, making all kinds of figures of animals. He doesn't have to go far for his inspiration. The area of the country where he lives is poor; his prospects of employment are nil. Like most of his countrymen, is an avid soccer fan. His idol, Diego Maradona, one of the best players of all time. One day, walking in the woods he sees a tree with a strange formation. He gets an inspiration: he will make a sculpture in his idol's image.

When Maradona gets sick, Tati, like the rest of the country, sits glued in front of the television set in town. The eager soccer fans have staged vigils outside the Buenos Aires clinic where the great Diego is being treated. Tati, acting on an impulse, decides to bring the statue to Maradona. The only problem is, he doesn't have enough money to pay for the trip. His wife, who understands the need for Tati to go to the capital, borrows some money so he can go.

Tati has a winning personality. He is a contented person that has not been outside of the area where he was born. Carrying the statue of Maradona wrapped in plastic, he starts his journey that will bring him closer to his idol. All he wants to do is pay homage to the man that gave him so much when he was active in the game. Along the road, Tati proves to be a resourceful man, making friends with all he comes in contact with.

The one person that made the difference was a Waguinho, a Brazilian truck driver who is going to Buenos Aires with a thousands of chickens in his semi. Yes, he will take Tati to the capital; along the way the two men bond in unexpected ways. The older Waguinho understands Tati because he sees a kind soul, even when his own preferences lay not with Maradona, but with another Brazilian, Pele. The two newly acquainted friends get into an easy friendship until they get to the end of the line.

Tati decides to take his statue directly to the golf course where it has been reported Maradona has been going after his escape from the clinic. He had left against his doctors' advice. The last leg of Tati's journey involves a bus ride with a blind man who makes a living selling lottery tickets. Tati helps this man get to the area where he will peddle his chances, right outside the golf course. Tati goes to the security area to give his present, he is told to leave it with the guard. Maradona who is thought to arrive in an ambulance is never seen. Tati wonders if Diego has seen the gift, the guard checks and nothing is found, leading the young peasant to believe his gift has been accepted. As he walks away, he goes to say good bye to the blind lottery seller. He wants to know if the man wants help. Instead, the blind man gives him a lottery ticket, as a token of his gratitude, telling Tati, he feels it will be a winner.

Carlos Sorin, the creator of this immensely enjoyable film, shows he is a great observer of humans. As he has demonstrated with his delightful, "Intimate Stories", he is at it again with this tale about a kind hearted, but naive man that embarks in a trip of discovery just to repay, in a way, the joys a soccer player of the stature of Maradona has given him, without asking. As with his other film, this is a type of road movie in which a man will discover a world he didn't know, but in doing so, he also will touch the lives of the people that he comes in contact with.

Part of our enjoyment is watching a beautiful story that rings true. This is a film where non professional actors carry the film effortlessly. The charismatic Ignacio Benitez is playing himself. A peasant that probably has not seen the world outside his village, he does a wonderful job for the director. Equally excellent is Carlos Wagner LaBella, who plays Waguinho, a jolly man that sees the good in the young man on a mission. They bond together in unexpected ways, complimenting each other and enhancing the film in the process.

The soundtrack is by Nicolas Sorin, the son of the director. The amazing views of the unknown countryside that tourists never see is by Hugo Colace who has worked with the director before. Carlos Sorin surprises us, yet again, with this vision of hope. This is a positive film that will charm its viewers.

First, the English title, "The Road to San Diego," is misleading and would be better translated as "The Way to St. Diego." (Before reading on, be warned that what follows contains spoilers.) The title involves a play on words. First, it refers to Argentine soccer hero Diego Maradona as St. Diego since he has been accorded saint-like status by the movie's protagonist and by many Argentines. It also evokes the Spanish phrase, "El camino de Santiago" ("The Way to Santiago"), which refers to the route that medieval pilgrims took to travel from all over Europe to the city of Santiago, Spain, which was alleged to have the remains of the apostle St. James. This movie's protagonist is, like a medieval pilgrim, on a holy quest. Marginally employed and living in poverty, he could use a miracle for himself, and perhaps that is the unconscious motive for his journey, but its conscious purpose is to support Maradona, who at the movie's beginning is hospitalized, perhaps as a result of an overly indulgent lifestyle made possible by a budget that is beyond this poor follower's imagination. In short, the film is a compelling commentary on the human urge to find something to believe in. It is a bit slow at places but is well worth viewing.

OK, it's not a surprise that Sorin did it again. He is without any doubt one of the top three living directors from Argentina, an the only one who passes the borders of our country without any type of presumption and grandiloquence in his features. Particularly in this movie, "El Camino de San Diego", -the title referring to Argentina biggest living Icon, Diego Armando Maradona- SOrin shows as that a fantastic road movie, which includes all the components of this genre, can be done in this part of the world, and with the surprising fact of the main character not driving a single kilometer. We get to see two main thing in this movie. First of all, a unique love story. That is, the one which exits between Argentines and the football idol. A love thats surpasses any distance, monetary limitation and even the reality. The main character is up to everything in order to achieve his wish. That is, to give Diego a piece of wood with his face on it. The second main point of this movie, and here we enter SOrin's favorite field, is the accurate picture of the Argentina's country and town inhabitants, all of them trying to help the story hero so that he can achieve his goal. Again, an in Historias Minimas and Bombón, Sorin gets fantastic performances from non-professional actors. Not to extend it any longer, I can Farly say that this is the best picture about Maradona, and it doesn't even has to show him on screen