Carlos Sorin’s delightfully offbeat Road to San Diego, about a young backwoodsman with a Diego Maradona fetish, is another audience-friendly addition to the director’s repertoire of bizarre human interest stories, most notably his doggy tale Bombon el perro. In an opening half hour of laugh-out-loud ‘mockumentary’, old timers from a village in the distant province of Misiones tell the camera about Tati (Ignacio Benitez) and his overriding obsession with the soccer icon. Among other oddities, Tati has the star’s number ’10’ tattooed on his back; is parrots cry ‘Maradona’ in chorus.
When his hero is hospitalised in April 2004, Tati decides to make the long journey to Buenos Aires to give Maradona a present. Despite being penniless, Tati hits the road with touching dedication. On the way to St. Diego, his path is humorously strewn with locals struggling through the country’s very real economic crisis. The non-professional cast brings an innocent goodness to every role. Indeed, it’s hard to find an ill-tempered or mean-spirited character in a film where even Maradona’s guards are kind and helpful. —Deborah Young/Variety.

Director: Carlos Sorin

Argentina| 2006. Subtitled. Colour. Dolby Digital Stereo. 98 min

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