The Silence Of Neto

Luis Argueta's first feature film is also the first major feature to come out of Guatemala. In it, he uses one of the most traumatic eras in his country's history as a backdrop for a fairly universal coming-of-age tale.

It is 1954, and adolescent Antonio "Neto" Ypes (Oscar Javier Almengor) is visited by the ghost of his Uncle Ernesto (Herbert Meneses), who counsels, "The worst thing you can do is not say what you feel." A flashback to six months earlier shows Neto, a privileged kid in the nation's capital, troubled by an uncomfortable relationship with his domineering, emotionally remote father Eduardo (Julio Diaz), a judge. Uncle Ernesto is Neto's favorite, a f...