Prisoners of the Land

(Prisioneros de la tierra)
(Prisoners of the Earth)

Mario Soffici
Argentina, 1939

Digital Restoration

featuring

Ángel Magaña, Elisa Galvé, Francisco Petrone, Homero Cárpena,

A passionate tropical noir that weaves its love triangle around greed, exploitation, and class struggle during the birth of contemporary Latin America, Prisoners of the Earth has been acclaimed as one of the greatest Argentine films. Set in the jungle province of Misiones in 1915, as its wildness is turned into profit by exploited plantation laborers, the film follows a proud worker, a ruthless foreman, and the woman torn between them. This restoration brings new life into every nightmarish close-up, powerful folk song, and descent into delirium in this classic of Argentina’s “social-folkloric” genre.

Jason Sanders
FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Ulyses Petit de Murat
  • Darío Quiroga
Cinematographer
  • Pablo Tabernero
Language
  • Spanish and Guaranì
  • with English subtitles
Print Info
  • B&W
  • DCP
  • 85 mins
Source
  • Janus Films
Additional Info
  • Restored by Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project in association with the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducros Hicken, with elements provided by La Cinémathèque Française and the Narodni Filmovy Archiv. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.