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A young man is drawn into the world of politics even though he's short on altruistic conviction in this drama from Argentina. Roque (Esteban Lamothe) decides to resume his on-again, off-again academic pursuits when he enrolls at the University of Buenos Aires, and discovers the campus is caught up in partisan gamesmanship as a new leftist political party jockeys for position. Roque isn't much interested either way until he meets Paula (Romina Paula), a pretty graduate student and teaching assistant who is an activist with the Brecha Party. Seeing an ideal opportunity to impress her, Roque volunteers to work with Brecha, and quickly learns how to make an effective speech and ways to prey on the weaknesses of their rivals. Not only does Roque attract Paula's attention, the local party leader who has been her mentor, Acevedo (Ricardo Felix), is impressed with his political skills and makes Roque his assistant. Roque isn't especially worried that his new political ambitions are getting in the way of his studies, but when he begins seeing the real-world impact of the party's policies on his fellow students, he has second thoughts. El Estudiante (aka The Student) was written and directed by Santiago Mitre; while he co-directed El Amor (Primera Parte) in 2010, El Estudiante was the first feature he directed on his own.