Waiting for the Barbarians

An unknown empire at an unknown point in time: the conscientious Magistrate, administrator of an isolated frontier settlement on the border, is looking forward to his approaching retirement until the arrival of Colonel Joll, whose task it is to report on the activities of the “barbarians” and on the security situation on the border. Joll conducts a series of ruthless interrogations. The treatment of the “barbarians” at the hands of the Colonel and the torture of a young “barbarian” woman combine to lead the Magistrate into a crisis of conscience and a quixotic act of rebellion. Adapted from the eponymous novel by Nobel Prize winner J.M. Coetzee, Colombian master director Ciro Guerra delivers a cutting-edge parable about power and violence.