El camino del caracol
2011 · 11m · Argentina
Directed by Diego Andrés Ercolano
Genres: drama, essay film
Tones: contemplative, melancholic
Joanna lives alone on the street like the 'snail women' who carry their lives on their backs; pregnant, she sets out to find a better place to have her child amid society's violence and indifference.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Ercolano refuses the easy redemption arc—this isn't a rescue narrative but a structural essay on visibility and erasure, which means most people will find it too austere and he'll be vindicated in three years.
The film's formal restraint—its decision to treat homelessness and pregnancy as material conditions rather than emotional content—places it squarely in the essay-film lineage of Valeska Grisbach and the Dardennes, with a rigor that rewards repeat viewing.
The entire film hinges on Ercolano's refusal to use music or score to manipulate—just the texture of footsteps and urban sound—which transforms what could've been sentimental into something unbearably present.