Miguel Pereira's first feature film is set in Chorcan, in the desolate Northwestern province of Jujuy where he was born. This beautifully filmed narrative captures the pace and details of life in the isolated region. A young boy, raised by his grandmother as a shepherd, is exposed to a world beyond the mountains when he befriends the new local school teacher. But the education of Veronico is more than sentimental; his exposure to "civilization" coincides with the junta's taking power in Buenos Aires. In Chorcan, the local mayor is replaced by a policeman. While this termination of civil authority may seem largely symbolic, when Veronico and his teacher journey to the provincial capital in search of his father, they find that there the effects of the military's repression differ only in degree. While the film focuses on Veronico's debt to his teacher, a debt of friendship and education, it shows that the country incurred a debt to its citizens, even those in the most isolated regions. Kathy Geritz