With the bursting of Argentina’s economic bubble, millions were plunged mercilessly into unemployment and poverty. Many live in appalling conditions and have no money to feed their children, of which thousands die from malnutrition every year. Raul Castells is the charismatic leader of the picquetero movement that vows to enfranchise the dislocated and demands effective responses from a government they believe is corrupt. He terrorises the dwellings of the rich and plunders their wealth for the benefit of the poor. Raul the Terrible intimately follows Castells’ passion for his people and trails his often dangerous route to a revolutionary revolt.

Academy Award nominee David Bradbury pulls no punches as he epitomises the discrepancies between the poor and the privileged. Nevertheless, it is clear from the beginning of the film that not all support Castells’ revolution. Although not averse to their cause, many believe that Castells and his members are disruptive. As Argentina’s Robin Hood, Castells’ actions create mixed feelings’is he brash or is his seeming wilfulness necessary to get the job done?

The documentary’s pace is at times frustrating, although arguably augmenting the audience’s grasp of the waiting game between Castells and the government in which responses are rare and scheduled meetings are stood up.

Bradbury’s message is clear; Argentina is in urgent need of an economic and political reformation to alleviate the dire circumstances of its poor and unemployed. However, the film inevitably questions the effectiveness of such revolutionaries as Castells and their success.

With the exception of some agonisingly long scenes, the documentary provides a frightening insight into the politics of poverty and a man whose driving force remains the hardships of his comrades.