Meet Sergio. Sergio is an aspiring writer/director whose Western script “Sal” (Salt) has been turned down by every producer he meets. There’s no story, they say. It is clear that nothing has ever happened to you, Sergio, they tell him. It reads like you have never been to the (?) desert, Sergio. So, in an attempt to get a better feel for the place and hoping that the change of location will help him infuse some soul into his script, Sergio flies out to Chile.
The last thing he expected was to be mistaken for the local hero, Diego.
Only, not everyone is thrilled to see “Diego” again. Victor, the man Diego had an altercation with before leaving, is especially displeased.
What follows is Sergio’s continuing embroilment with the locals’ problems as well as his unwilling descent into being Sergio.
There’s a particular bit I like where Sergio/Diego is treking barefoot through the desert and instead of having the actor pant or moan about how thirsty he is, water water water, or any of those clichés, the filmmakers have instead opted to use sound to get their point across. As Sergio shuffles through the sand, each of his footsteps is replaced with the sound of sloshing water.