It wasn’t until the film had finished that I appreciated the beauty of this film in its entirety.

Las Acacias tells a poignant story of a truck driver who, as a favour, takes a woman and her five month old baby girl from Paraguay to Buenos Aires. From the beginning, I wasn’t expecting much and not being used to a slower pace of film didn’t discourage this either.

De Silva plays Rubén: a lonely man, whose friends are the roads and his truck. A man of few words; he eats alone, sleeps alone and works alone. When he picks up Jacinta (Duarte) and her daughter Anahi (Mamani), unbeknownst to him, that is all about to change.

Their journey together starts off slow, just like the film’s pace, and awkward hangs thickly in the air between the strangers. Forced into the close proximity of the passenger space highlights their lack in common and heightens the tensions between them, although the feeling that there is so much left unsaid lingers ever present. With very little dialogue, the body language and stolen glances are what tells the story and gradually brings us to the emotional understanding between the characters.

The relationship of the two progresses into a familiarity with each other now with smiles and lingering looks, and the emotional bond Rubén develops for Anahi is truly endearing to watch. From being a man not quite knowing how to hold her, to almost reducing to tears at the dawning thought of mother and child leaving him, Rubén becomes a man transformed.

Fitting to the title of the film, Rubén is the acacia – the thorny trees that are harvested and transported on the back of the truck to be made into new things. By the end of this journey, thorny Rubén will grow a love for the quiet and strong Jacinta and a yearn for a family he wants to call his own.

Anahi is the show-stealer and her undeniable cuteness only adds to this story of love through no words, a film definitely worth taking a passenger seat in.