A los ojos

Young social worker Mónica tries to help homeless people, pregnant women and children in a deprived neighbourhood of Mexico City. There are a lot of young people out there, surrounded by piles of trash, the victims of alcohol and drug abuse. Among them is 16-year-old Benjamín, whom she invites to stay at her flat just to get him off the streets. She lives with her 11-year-old son Omar, who has a degenerative eye condition and will go blind if he doesn't get an urgent cornea transplant. But given the bureaucratic health insurance system, this is the stuff of dreams. In her frustration, Mónica is at least comforted by the fact that she has made progress with Benjamín and has spared him from certain ruin on the streets. The lad gradually starts to come alive and Omar finds a good friend in him. Yet the doctors are convinced the little boy's fate is sealed if they don't find a donor soon. How will Mónica cope dividing her loyalties between her commitment to her work and her devotion as a mother? (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)