Matanza (2003)

Run Time - 73 min.  |   Countries - Argentina  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Ryan Shriver

Approximately 10.5 miles outside the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires lies a town in the Matanza (Slaughter) district named Maria Elena. Like most of Argentina in the late '90s, the Matanza district has been devastated by the country's economic collapse, leaving its residents to attempt to survive by very limited or nonexistent means. The documentary collective El Grupo Documental Primero de Mayo visited this town and district and captured the day-to-day struggles endured by the populace in their 2002 activist documentary Matanza. Leaving the residents of Maria Elena no choice but to form organized cells of resistance against a seemingly uncaring bureaucracy, the filmmakers watch as the people's protests and marches are met by armed police in violent confrontations. Other efforts include the formation of soup kitchens and marches in the street that halt traffic, both of which unite the residents of the region, regardless of class, into a very formidable and visible unified front.