A new Argentine film dares to touch a taboo subject: the Chinese mafia in Latin America. Los caminantes de la calle, directed by Juan Martín Hsu, is a police thriller that delves into the guts of mafia violence and the exploitation of the Chinese community, all wrapped in a neo-noir atmosphere that offers no respite.
The plot begins in 2010, when the family that owns the restaurant Luna Radiante starts receiving death threats from the gang known as La Serpiente. But they are not alone: the area is under the control of El Tigre, the rival clan. What follows is an escalation of violence that goes from intimidating calls to shootings, and from there to murders and dismemberments as a macabre message.
Prosecutor Belenguer (Victoria Almeida) takes the case. With the help of Inspector Li (Chien Min Lee), an envoy from the Chinese embassy, she tries to decipher the hierarchy of La Serpiente through wiretaps. They soon discover that the criminal network is much larger: it not only engages in extortion and illegal gambling, but also traffics young women for prostitution, with the complicity of the local gendarmerie.
The film, shot in Mendoza and Lima, is based on real events that occurred in 2016. Hsu worked with non-professional actors who contributed their own stories to bring the characters to life. The result is a cast that shines with minimalist but emotionally charged performances.
The conflict between the gangs erupts for two reasons: the breaking of the pact that delimited their areas of influence, and the love between Xu (Andres Alberto Tan He) and a kidnapped young woman (Yuchen Che), which ends up weighing more than loyalty to the clan.
The film also highlights the harsh reality of Chinese migration. There is a grandfather who worked as a slave, two brothers who get into the mafia for easy money, an orphan who dreams of a better future, and a Xu who hates his parents and only seeks money without knowing why. The lack of support networks, exploitation, and segregation appear as the deep causes of marginalization and hatred.
With a visual style dominated by red, symbolizing the irruption of repressed feelings and vengeful violence, the film uses music and editing to create oppressive atmospheres. The disillusioned ending makes it clear that even if the leaders are captured or killed, the structures of power and violence continue to function on their own.
Los caminantes de la calle is a hard punch to the stomach of political correctness. A demonstration that Argentine cinema can be entertaining and thought-provoking at the same time. Because in the midst of the asphalt jungle, violence has no end, but poetry —like the one that emerges between Belenguer and Li— may be the only crack to find something human.
para mi estos chinos vienen a hacer guita facil y se matan entre ellos como perros rabiosos y despues los zurdos lloran por los inmigrantes que se vayan todos a la mierda si no saben convivir que se pudran en su pais argentina primero carajo firmado el gaucho
Para mí esto es la punta del iceberg del capitalismo salvaje, los chinos laburan como esclavos y se matan por monedas mientras los patrones se llenan los bolsillos. Me parece una hipocresía total, esto huele a culpa del sistema, no de los pibes. Viva la lucha de clases, carajo.