Chinese Take Away

Plot

Roberto is a veteran who is characterised by orderliness and a firm belief in the value of control. He runs his own hardware store accordingly. If a supplier sells him boxes with 100 screws each, he counts all the screws and files a complaint if just a single one is missing. He feels that the world around his isle of neatness has gone mad. In order to prove his point, he collects newspaper articles about grotesque mishaps originally triggered by a lack of diligence.

While Roberto believes he has his life under control and is safe from surprises, he is confronted by an appalling incident. A Chinese man, Jun, is thrown out of a moving car in front of Roberto's eyes. Roberto helps him and tries to put things right again, as it is his nature. This is in particular difficult because neither one speaks the other one's language and Roberto is absolutely not in the habit of asking anybody for help. However, they find an interpreter who enables them to converse.

Jun discloses to Roberto he came to Argentina to find his uncle. Roberto explains to Jun that he has become such a grumpy man because his world view has been shattered by the Falklands war. Then Roberto provides an example on what he means when he considers the whole world gone mad. He shows Jun his collection of newspaper articles and points out the article about a Chinese girl who was killed by a cow that fell out of a moving aircraft. Yet Jun knows this story already since she was his fiancée and he actually came to Argentina because everything in China reminded him of this tragedy.

Cast