Tumberos - Argentine prison drama and fantasy

This show is fucking BANANAS. From 2002, it's unlike anything I've ever seen. An upper middle class lawyer of Buenos Aires is locked up in one of Argentina's most violent prisons for the murder of a ballet dancer. The show traces his adaptation to and eventual embrace/absorption into the logic of his surroundings. Dark magic and fantasy, crime, and bourgeois fears frame its portrayal of exploding mass incarceration after the Argentinazo. Some of its major themes are gender, class, and sexual violence. It might be read as an extremely violent version of Bakhtin's Carnival (Maybe? Please feel free to dispute this below).


I can't find a version with English subtitles, or even Spanish subtitles for that matter. But if you are feeling brave and want to brush up on your Lunfardo, jump in! It does not disappoint.