The story of two brothers-in-law who have a small furniture business. The elder gets seduced by fast international capital and for soon earns piles of cash, while the other rejects the offer and tries to keep the humble shop going. This is a critique of international capitalism which was then in its infancy. Japanese businessmen walk through the shop. We hear a brief lecture by an American (in English) about how free markets make free people. The elder partner revolutionizes his lifestyle. (An interesting sidelight is the use that director Ayala makes of modern Argentine abstract art by Rogelio Polesello, Enio Iommi, Gregorio Vardánega and others as a backdrop for high finance schemes.) The events are set in 1978, when Argentina won the World Cup and people often said "God must be Argentine." The film thoughtfully analyzes that proposition, at least as far as it involves business culture. For an American audience it drags a bit, but it's a brave movie, very much in the critical tradition of Fernando Ayala. Worth seeing.
Review of Plata dulce
