In Plaza Catedral, Panamanian director Abner Benaim crafts a taut, intimate drama that navigates grief, privilege, and social disparity with unflinching honesty. Set in Panama City’s old quarter, the film tells the story of Alicia, a middle-class woman tormented by the accidental death of her son, whose life is disrupted again when a 13-year-old street boy named Chief enters her orbit.

Ilse Salas delivers a deeply restrained performance as Alicia, whose emotional fragility clashes with her apparent comfort and order. Opposite her, Fernando Xavier De Casta, in a haunting and tragically posthumous performance, plays Chief with disarming authenticity. The real-life tragedy of the actor’s murder shortly before the film’s release only deepens the film’s emotional and political resonance.

Benaim avoids melodrama, focusing instead on silence, glances, and what goes unsaid. The tension between the characters reflects a broader societal gap — one marked by race, class, and the physical borders that separate historic, touristic beauty from marginalized poverty.

The cinematography captures Panama with subtle contrasts: sunlit plazas and shadowy interiors echoing the internal lives of the protagonists. With a script that’s minimal but charged, Plaza Catedral examines the limits of compassion in a society where structural violence shapes every encounter.

Nominated for Best Ibero-American Film at the Goya Awards and selected as Panama’s entry to the Oscars, the film is both deeply local and universally resonant — a sharp reminder of the cost of looking away.