''Chronicle of a Boy Alone'' ( es, Crónica de un niño solo), also known as ''Chronicle of a Lonely Child'', is a 1965 Argentine film directed by

Leonardo Favio Fuad Jorge Jury (28 May 1938 – 5 November 2012), better known by his stage name Leonardo Favio (), was an Argentine singer, actor and filmmaker. He is considered one of Argentina's best film directors and one of the country's most enduring cul ...

. It won the

Silver Condor The Argentine Film Critics Association ( es, Asociación de Cronistas Cinematográficos de la Argentina) is an organization of Argentine-based journalists and correspondents. The association presents the ''Silver Condor Awards'' (''Premios Cóndor ...

Award for Best Film. It was selected as the greatest Argentine film of all time in a poll conducted by the

Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken is a museum of cinema of Argentina located in Buenos Aires. It was established on 1971 and holds a collection of 65,000 reels of film. History The Cinema Museum of the City of Buenos Aires was created on Oc ...

in 2000. In a new version of the survey organized in 2022 by the specialized magazines ''La vida util'', ''Taipei'' and ''La tierra quema'', presented at the

Mar del Plata International Film Festival The Mar del Plata International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata) is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is the only competitive feature fest ...

, the film reached the 5 position.

Plot

Polin is an eleven-year-old

troublemaker Troublemaker, The Troublemaker, Trouble Maker, or Trouble Makers may refer to: Film * Troublemaker Studios, a Texan film production company founded by Robert Rodriguez and Elizabeth Avellan * ''Trouble Makers'' (1917 film), a lost silent film dr ...

reform school A reform school was a penal institution, generally for teenagers mainly operating between 1830 and 1900. In the United Kingdom and its colonies reformatories commonly called reform schools were set up from 1854 onwards for youngsters who were ...

for unknown reasons. After suffering from harsh treatment at the hands of the staff there, Polin finally reaches a breaking point and snaps, punching one of the supervisors in the face. He is then sent to the police station where he is locked up in a cell and left alone. Polin soon breaks out and travels back to his hometown, a rural fishing village, where he meets up with his best friend and falls back into his old routine—

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...

pickpocketing Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for Misdirection (magic ...

shoplifting Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...

skinny dipping Nude swimming is the practice of swimming without clothing, whether in natural bodies of water or in swimming pools. A colloquial term for nude swimming is ''skinny-dipping''. In both British and American English, to swim means "to move through ...

with his friends and picking fights with the neighborhood bullies—all the while trying to avoid a run-in with the law, which he knows is inevitable.

Cast

*Diego Puente as Polín *Tino Pascali as Official of Justice * Óscar Espíndola as Physical Training *Victoriano Moreira as Fiori *Beto Gianola as Police *

as Fabián *

María Vaner María Vaner (23 March 1935 – 21 July 2008) was an Argentine actress. She appeared in nearly 50 films and television shows between 1958 and 2008. The daughter of Pedro Aleandro, her sister was actress Norma Aleandro. She had two sons with ...

as The Girl

Controversy

While on the surface a film about children, at the time of its release in 1965 the film was viewed by many as a critique on Argentina's regime. In addition to this, the film's brutal and realistic depiction of Argentina's state-run orphanages at the time caused a great deal of controversy. The film also contains a controversial scene containing extensive, explicit nudity involving several young Argentine boys

References

External links

* 1965 films 1960s Spanish-language films Argentine black-and-white films 1965 drama films Films directed by Leonardo Favio 1960s Argentine films {{1960s-Argentina-film-stub