Ezio Massa must have been the only person praying for Argentina to lose in the Japan–Korea world cup in 2002. Yet for many Argentines the cup presented itself as an opportunity to raise the country from the misery of the economic crisis.
Massa compares football with “opium”, and he uses the analogy to describe the quick hit that people were craving in 2001, in which his latest film ‘Villa’, is based. “I wrote between 2001 and 2002 with a lot of anger and resentment during the crisis that tore through Argentina. We were looking for something new, we needed change.”
The film focuses on the lives of three youths living in Villa 21 in Buenos Aires, setting the hopeless reality of the slum against the optimism, passion and excitement induced by the football match. Freddy, Cuzquito and Lupín watch the game through the window of a pizzeria in Retiro. After they are told to leave by the sneering owner, the three friends make a pact to watch the first game in two days on a colour television, no matter what it takes.
The nail-biting narrative unnerves you, leaving you hanging on tenterhooks to see what happens next; whether someone will be shot in the stomach or stabbed to death, whether Argentina will win or lose. In this way you can fully appreciate the meaning of the word ‘Insecurity’ which is printed on the back of Freddy’s hoody. With a sickening thump to the stomach, Massa brings home the fact that no one is safe; “the ghettos breed insecurity” in the same way that Freddy carries the word, heavy on his shoulders, throughout the film.
Massa states that one of the most important points of the film is to challenge people’s preconceptions. Most of us are guilty of crossing the road when a hooded youth approaches us from a dark alleyway, but how does this make that person feel? Before Freddie has even committed a crime, as he kneels at the altar in the slum’s church, he is literally branded a cause of insecurity since the word is printed on his back. Massa explains that “insecurity is not a cause, but a result of prejudice”. The observer is forced to consider their own presumptions.
He says he wanted “to show everything as it is happening today, in real life”, and this objective is met by the fact that the protagonists are real people from Villa 21 in Buenos Aires. In Freddy’s expressionless face we see a generation of Argentine youth who have no sense of direction, their life practically void of opportunities.
‘Villa’ was premiered as part of the Human Rights Film Festival, and is due to be released later this year. The narrative is in Spanish but the plot is easy to grasp. The soundtrack is exceptional, a dark mix of gritty hip hop combined with stirring sexy reggaeton; if you liked City of God, you will love this.