La Libertad Doble (Double Freedom)

For his seventh film, Argentine filmmaker Lisandro Alonso returned — with the same crew — to the location and protagonist of his debut film, Libertad (2001), where his fascination with the loner first took root. In the quarter of a century separating the two films, Alonso has built an remarkable body of work around solitary men and desolate landscapes. In many respects, the life of lumberjack Misael (Misael Saavedra) has continued much as before. Yet the shockwaves of Milei’s chainsaw-wielding political agenda are sweeping across Argentina at full force, and they will have a profound impact on him too. Even in his most political film to date, Alonso opts for a minimalism that seeps through every layer of the film, delicately captured by Cobi Migliora’s 35mm cinematography. La Libertad Doble (Double Freedom) is a film that breathes freely despite the splinters in the air and the suffocating smoke of roaring chainsaws.