Santiago Mitre’s third feature might be called a cross between a political drama and a thriller. Although the action takes place in South America, certain patters of behavior tend to pop up at just about every latitude and longitude. The protagonist of The Summit is Hernan, the newly sworn-in president of Argentina, who’s far from being an old pro at politics. He describes himself as a man of the people but paradoxically prefers to keep himself at a safe distance from his constituents. Hernan is thrown right into the deep end: he’s responsible for leading the annual summit for heads of Latin American states. The goal, of course, is cooperation and hammering out a common policy—this time concerning the oil trade. Things quickly get out of hand though, not just because of tensions between the summit participants, which have increasingly heated up under a series of past presidents, but also because of a family situation that could result in a huge scandal. Mitre describes in great detail the reality of the people who make decisions for us, exposing secret alliances and dirty behind-the-scenes tricks. A fascinating reflection on modern politics, the corruption that goes hand-in-hand with it and the inevitable sense of being alone that comes with holding the title of president.