Muchacho

1976, Nicaragua. “Tacit” Somoza rules the small Central American country with the support of the ruthless Guardia. The son of a powerful family from the capital, Managua, Gabriel is a young priest with an incredible talent for sacred art. He is sent to enhance his painting skills with Ruben, a priest in San Juan–a little village located at the base of a mountain. Despite his difficulty integrating with the villagers due to his father’s reputation, Gabriel slowly gets to know them and, eventually, to love them. Encouraged by Ruben, he paints the villagers. He paints them as they are–men and women of flesh and blood. But Gabriel is soon witness to acts of military repression of the locals. It doesn’t take long for him and the villagers to get swept away in these times of growing rebellion and smoldering revolution. Nourished by a sense of divine justice, Gabriel begins to understand the villainy of those in power and their cronies. When he’s eventually taken in and treated by the guerillas camped out in the forest, he lies about his family name and swaps his pencils and paint brushes for firearms. As he gazes beyond the surface and deeper into the depths, Gabriel also discovers his own humanity, made of flesh and desires…