Crane World 1999

Rulo Federico Esquerro is a middle-aged ex-bass player from the rock band Seventh Regiment who, during Argentina’s harsh Great Depression, scrapes by by taking a crane operator job near his home in Buenos Aires. He quickly grows fond of the quiet, almost meditative calm up high, where the city’s bustle feels distant and the work feels oddly peaceful despite the danger of tall heights. This new blue-collar reality forms a bridge between two halves of his life: the loud, chaotic energy of his former rock-star days and a more restrained, uncertain present that still hums with memory.

As he settles into the routine, Rulo builds unusual social ties that color his days. He befriends his trainer, Torres, and begins a tender romance with Adriana Adriana Aizemberg, a warm-hearted sandwich shop owner who becomes a steady anchor amid shifting circumstances. The connection offers him a glimpse of normalcy and a renewed sense of belonging, even as he keeps thinking back to the glory days shared with his old bandmates and the friends who once filled his life with energy and noise. Throughout the hands-on work and quiet evenings, Rulo channels that history into conversations, cravings, and a stubborn hope that he can still find purpose in this new chapter.

Rulo’s closest personal strain comes from his relationship with his son, Claudio, who is trying to carve out his own path in a rock band of his own. The two clash over lifestyle and discipline. Rulo demonstrates patience—he lends money, allows Claudio to borrow his cherished bass guitar for a show, and even tolerates the late-night arrivals that echo the boy’s nocturnal gigs—but the friction grows as Claudio’s casual approach to responsibility becomes harder to overlook. The tension in their apartment mirrors the larger tension of a country negotiating survival, youth’s impulse, and the weight of lived dreams.

When the moment of professional shift arrives, Rulo faces a cruel setback on what should have been his first day back in the field. A coworker is at the crane, and after a tense discussion with his supervisor, Rulo learns that his dismissal came at the insurance company’s recommendation. The news is twofold: not only does it strike him at a moment of precarious financial footing, but his health and weight complicate the possibility of obtaining coverage if he were to start work officially. This blow reverberates through every part of his life, from his ability to provide for his family to his sense of self-worth.

In the wake of the firing, Rulo tells Claudio that the boy’s lifestyle must change, a truth that lands hard on both of them. His mother steps in to help, taking Claudio in, though she soon tires of the younger man’s unstructured habits. As a counterpoint to Buenos Aires, Torres suggests a new opportunity farther south in Argentina, where Rulo would work as an excavator. Despite his lingering worries about health and stability, he accepts, promising Adriana that he’ll visit and keep in touch every couple of months, little rituals that become lifelines in a period of turbulence.

Rulo’s journey south unfolds by train and hitchhike, and he forms a quick, supportive bond with Sartori, the firm’s new supervisor. The work becomes a test of adaptability: Rulo’s crane-training skills translate well to excavation, and he begins to make real progress on a pipeline project. Yet the company’s financial struggles compound, and the project stalls as bankruptcy looms, leaving everyone uncertain about the future. With heavy news weighing on him, Rulo makes the difficult decision to return to Buenos Aires. He lies to his mother, masking the depth of his setback, while confessing to Claudio that the situation has cratered and that the path ahead remains full of unknowns. Parting ways with Sartori, he boards a truck back toward the city, carrying the anxious hope that better days—or at least a better sense of purpose—lie somewhere ahead.

The film is a quiet, character-driven portrait of a man navigating between past triumphs and present compromises, trying to hold onto dignity, connection, and the possibility of renewal in the face of economic and personal upheaval.