Puan movie poster
Professor Caselli, chairman of the philosophy department, jogs around the leafy campus as Puan begins. He pauses suddenly before collapsing. At that moment, the Public University of Buenos Aires loses one of its beloved professors to the inevitability of death, and with his exit, the battle begins for his seat at the head of the table.
The film by Argentine directors María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat is a comedy delivered seriously and a drama posed with a light touch. Puan unfolds against the backdrop of Argentina’s economic meltdown, a situation that puts academia in danger of drastic budget cuts. It’s the opening night selection for the 45th Annual Latin American Film Series, March 28-April 5 at the UWM Union Cinema. Admission is free.
Both rivals for Caselli’s chair had been his students, but the arc of their lives took different directions since graduation. Our protagonist, Marcelo Pena, is worn and middle aged, trudging with a heavy backpack strapped across his one drab sport coat. He’s taught the same courses for years—Hobbes and Rousseau with a dash of ancient Greeks. His rival, Rafael Sujarchuk, fortuitously home on vacation when Caselli died, has held prestigious positions at German universities for the past 20 years and a guest lectureship at New York’s New School. He’s working out the ethical dilemmas of AI. Rafael is charismatic and charming, the sort of sensitive and centered male bound to irritate the flustered and flummoxed among us. Oh, and his girlfriend is an Argentine film star; when together in public, they draw fans for selfies.
Marcelo’s complexity comes down to several points. He’s actually a good teacher who hasn’t entirely lost his passion for knowledge and truth despite the drudgery. He’s happily married to a social activist and has an adorable 7th-grade son. Becoming department chair had never crossed his mind, but as he explains to his son, “Sometimes you don’t want something until someone else does.”
So why would a celebrity academic like Rafael want to trade Berlin and New York for a down-at-heels public college in Buenos Aires? Well, there’s his beautiful girlfriend (she texted him after reading his book and romance sparked). And then there’s Rafael’s gnomic statement while zigzagging through Buenos Aires’ traffic: there’s something stimulating about such a chaotic environment, making one think outside the well-trafficked lanes.
Marcelo’s paranoia and insecurity grows when faced with a rival who can insert a paragraph-long quote from Kant, in German, into a conversation. Many of Puan’s brightest moments are philosophical, especially when Marcelo uses his knowledge to help his listeners through hard times. And there is an ongoing undercurrent of action versus thinking (can they serve each other?), and a people power message, as two very different men vie in an uneven competition.
Puan will be screened at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 28 at the UWM Union Cinema.
