What makes someone a good husband and father? Providing enough money and security? Or is his presence more important? Brothers Isra and Cheito are struggling with this question. Isra has just come out of jail and tries to survive by selling scrap material and shellfish, but the easy money of crime beckons him. Navy man Cheito hesitates about a dangerous mission that will bring in lots of money, but also take him away from home for six months.
To capture the passage of time, director Isaki Lacuesta returned to the rusty Spanish port of San Fernando, where 12 years ago he followed the Roma kids Isra and Cheito after the death of their father in La leyenda del tiempo (IFFR 2006). Again he plays with the boundary between documentary and fiction which, thanks to the natural acting and intimate camerawork, is almost invisible; his compassion for these struggling men bursts from every frame.