Paulina

Paulina is an idealistic young lawyer from Argentina who quits her well-paid job to work as a teacher at a rural school project. Her choice greatly displeases her father, a successful judge. Her idealism is tested when a group of men snatch her off the road late at night and confirm all of her father’s prejudices. 

To Paulina’s father, it is inconceivable that his daughter, a lawyer with a promising career ahead of her, would suddenly decide to chase after her ideals teaching poor country children. He denounces her noble plans as ‘romantic hippie fantasies’. Her boyfriend also is far from enthusiastic. However, Paulina is adamant: she has already decided to trade her secure city life for the poor Argentinean hinterlands.

Her new workplace proves far from easy. Her students are not interested and talk to each other in a dialect she doesn’t understand. In a somewhat helpless attempt to explain the meaning of freedom and democracy, she claims she is not the boss of the class: she works for them and not the other way around. One cheeky boy asks her if that means they are not required to stay, which Paulina confirms. The adolescents immediately leave the classroom en masse.

Paulina’s faith is bigger than her fear and she perseveres. Her faith is sorely tested when a group of men snatch her off the road late at night. It appears that some of her assailants are her own students. To everyone’s surprise, Paulina decides that her ideals outweigh justice for herself.