A Robust Heart

Martín Benchimol / Argentina & United States / 2022 / 11 min

Seated before the pristine blue wall of a slaughterhouse, different butchers, old and young, shy and chatty, speak about their work, their knives, their joy, their fear, their way to best cut open the robust heart of an animal – ‘like a book’. As Argentinian director Martín Benchimol, who is the son of a butcher himself, starts to ask them questions, a deeper narrative is unlocked. Slowly, the hearts of men wearing white aprons covered in animal blood open up. With this simple but effective setup, Benchimol subtly explores notions of blood ties and masculinity.