El asombro

As if it were a continuation of the last 15 minutes of AB, Fund and Loza, now accompanied by Moriconi, radicalize the aesthetic procedure of the previous film made together: on the one hand, there is a free text, between poetic and philosophical, pronounced voiced by two men and a woman; on the other, a set of plans of different ecosystems, live and stuffed animals, clouds, waterfalls and lava, organized by a kind of poetic logic, makes up the visual material. The disjunction between text and image is programmatic, and in parallel they constitute a form of free poetic expression. The precariousness of existence is evidence, and the very composition of the images is in line with this empirical confirmation. The general discourse oscillates between a heterodox Franciscan Christianity and a sensitive Darwinism, and in the same way a kind of awareness of terror and amazement towards the universe is combined.

Directed by Santiago Loza, Iván Fund, Lorena Moriconi, El asombro leans on a strong ensemble — Santiago Loza, Lisandro Rodríguez, María Inés Sancerni — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about documentary titles of 2014.