Gael García Bernal plays a brooding, mysterious, Man With No Name-figure who stumbles out of the Argentinian rain forest in El Ardor or The Burning, which opens at the IFI on Friday June 19.
There is a land grab going on and the unkempt stranger runs to the rescue of the kidnapped daughter of a dirt poor farmer (Alice Braga) after her family are targeted by vicious mercenaries.
The film explores lawlessness, violence and corruption as played out in the South American jungle at a time when it seemed to be the preserve of the American plains and open to exploitation at the hands of adventurers from 'El Norte'.
Sergio Leone is clearly a key influence on director Pablo Fendrik, whose 101-minute film is a co-production between Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, France and the USA.
