Ramona

RAMONA, a resigned sickly old woman living in the slums of Asuncion, has nothing more to live for. Haunted by her past, she spends her days in solitude, picking and recycling trash in a city plagued by infernal heat. Her only worldly possession is a small pouch containing a picture of a young boy which she keeps close to her heart. JOSE on the other hand is young and full of life, determined to break out of the slum and improve the life of his family, no matter the cost. There’s just one thing standing in his way – his drunk and abusive father JORGE.

After witnessing his father abuse his mother once again, Jose leaves the house, determined to find a way to earn enough money to move his young brother JOAQUIN and mother VICTORIA out of his father’s house. He comes across a local thief PEDRO, who runs a small pickpocket operation. Pedro promises to help Jose and take him under his wing, but only if he proves himself first, by stealing from a random victim – Ramona. Jose follows Ramona around the city into a park where he steals her pouch and her water bottle containing what little remains of her water reserves. As he runs back to the slums, he begins to regret his actions and decides to return the stolen items. However, it is too late – Ramona is nowhere to be found.

Ramona is desperate and thirsty, but can’t find a viable water source in the desiccated city. She tries to gather more trash at a local supermarket but is chased away by security, causing her heart to falter and forcing her to seek help at a local hospital. There she is greeted by a nurse, who doesn’t speak her language (Guaraní). While the nurse looks for a translator Ramona gets forcibly removed from the premises by a guard thinking she’s a trespasser. Ramona, desperately thirsty, has no option but to drink from a polluted puddle she finds in the middle of the street and returns to the slums emptyhanded, her health deteriorating rapidly.

In the slum, she runs into Jorge, Victoria and a man called MIGUEL sitting around a fireplace. Jorge is drunk and harassing Victoria. When Ramona asks for water, Jorge forces her to drink Caña instead, pushing her already fragile mind into the abyss. She begins hearing her mother’s voice in the distance and decides to follow it into the dark corridors of the slum. Miguel is upset with what he sees and challenges Jorge. A conflict ensues which reveals Miguel to be Joaquin’s real father. Things escalate and Jorge becomes physical. Victoria jumps between the two, protecting Miguel with her body which gives him the chance to escape but leaves Victoria alone with her abusive husband.

Ramona follows her mother’s voice through the abandoned dark alleys of the slum encountering traditional masks and creatures that haunt her from the eerie corridors. Her visions are interspersed with violent scenes from her past that marked her youth and shaped her into the person she is today. As she stumbles aimlessly around the slum she chances upon Jose and begs him to return the picture he stole from her. Jose, distressed by the condition of the poor woman, returns the photo, causing Ramona to break down in tears. She professes she carries a great burden, a burden of regret for not doing enough to save her little brother from their violent father. As she becomes more agitated, her body starts faltering again. In the darkness of her mind, she sees a little boy standing in front of a man whose face is covered in blood. The boy turns around towards her and yells in her mother’s voice: “Ramona run!”

Ramona runs back to her humble home, terrified, her heart faltering with every step. She lays down in her cold barren bed surrounded by the masks and creatures and passes away. At the break of dawn, Jose discovers a crime scene with three covered bodies. Next to one of the bodies lies a small teddy bear his brother used to play with. He runs back to his house only to find it empty and starts embracing the terrible truth. He is alone, his family gone. He takes a small photo of his brother from the wall, places it near his heart, and leaves his home, to wander the streets of Asuncion.