70 years of movie going and with seeing 'Lion's Den' I've experienced the most remarkable film of my life. The writers delivered a great story which then had life breathed into it by sensitized actors, both writers and actors efforts directed with enormous creative humanity by Pablo Trabero. I saw no artifice and after watching some of the movie allowed myself a mili-second of time to think of 'Lion's Den' as being a documentary before forgetting any of that and just became an involved, rapt viewer. Deeply touching. Deeply human. This review does not contain enough lines - the minimum length for reviews is 10 lines of text. There!

Julia wakes one day only to find herself bruised, something she doesn't seem to notice. Her hands show blood that she washes out during her morning shower routine. At work, she appears distant. That night, as she returns home, the impact of what had happened in her apartment shocks her because she finds her live-in lover, Nahuel, dead. Ramiro, who was also involved sexually with Nahuel is wounded.For reasons that aren't explained, we never get to know the reason behind the murder. It is never made clear whether Julia was the killer, although everything conspires to land her in jail. Ramiro has survived and he is telling a different story that seems to be the opposite of what Julia confesses to the authorities in charge. We don't get to know the motive for the crime.What follows is an account of Julia's life in prison. The first thing the guards find out is that she is pregnant. Instead of going to the regular ward for criminals, Julia is taken to the maternity section where women with children are allowed to keep them until they turn four years of age. Julia begins to see what life is going to be now behind bars. It isn't a pretty sight. Luckily, Marta, another convict with two children comes to her rescue one day when Julia is assaulted in the communal showers. Marta, also, wants a piece of her new friend, but she is kinder.Julia's mother, Sofia, arrives from France, where evidently she has been living for some time. The relations between mother and daughter aren't exactly the best. Julia gives birth to Tomas. Not having any guidance, Julia is awkward in the way a baby has to be fed, among other things. Sofia helps bringing clothes and other things for the baby. The lawyer that has been trying to defend Julia is not exactly effective in presenting her case. To make matters worse, the case is brought to a formal trial and Ramiro lies about the crime, which allows him to leave the prison.Pablo Trapero is an interesting director. His previous films reveal he is an artist that loves to tackle themes no other men would. Mr. Trapero co-wrote the screenplay of this complex story that is more than a 'women behind bars' story. He makes a case about how strange justice works for someone like Julia, a woman caught in a web of red tape and because of her status as a female in a macho dominated society.The best thing in the film is Martina Gusman, who is married to the director and who has served as producer for all of her husband's films. Her Julia is one of the best performances in the Argentine cinema, bar none. She is an actress to consider, even though she has only appeared in 'Nacido y criado' before. Elly Medeiros plays Sofia, the distant mother that suddenly has to face her daughter's imprisonment at close range. Laura Garcia and Rodrigo Santoro are seen as Marta and Rodrigo, the other two main characters of this harrowing account about a woman entangled in a web where she can't escape.

This is really powerful cinema presented by Pablo Trapero. The movie, the performances and the location will leave you breathless. This movie is not only about a mother's struggle about raising her child in a prison, but it goes much beyond it in a bold, brutal and beautiful way. The whole movie is about love, mother's love for his child, love between two human beings and the extent to which a mother will go to get her child back. Shooting the movie in a real prison and adding this to a very clever use of background prison noises creates an atmosphere which makes the whole presentation even more gripping. Usually the prison movies will depict the prisoners and the prison guards as brutal, heartless and inhuman beings, but in this movie Trapero tried to touch the softer, more humane side of the inmates and the guards. Even though I don't know Spanish , but I loved watching this movie. Martine Gusman's wonderful performance makes this movie a must see for the serious cinema lovers.

The women in prison genre is often associated with cat-calling girl-fights and the guilty pleasure to the audience of women talking dirty and acting, actions supposed to be the purview of Tarzan aping men. Trapero's Leonera offers something else, an inquisition into how a life behind bars can change the human psyche and create a bond between a child and a mother. Echoing the early movies of the French New Wave that placed the gyneco-issues front and center and the point of view objectivity of the Dardenne Brothers, it is a worthy addition to what can be called the post-modern woman's picture. What is it like to give birth to your child behind bars? To have your child taken away, the rejoinder and enjoinder are all explored. With a wonderful performance by Martina Gusman, it is another worthy canon to 21st Century Argentine cinema.