Character Relationship Map: Bad Times

Characters

• Omar (segment "Vida y obra") (played by Daniel Valenzuela) — protagonist
• Santiago (segment "Está todo mal") (played by Nicolás Leivas) — supporting
• Pablo's Sister (segment "Está todo mal") (played by Romina Polnoroff) — minor
• Pablo (segment "Está todo mal") (played by Mariano Bertolini) — minor
• Santiago's Mother (segment "Está todo mal") (played by Marita Ballesteros) — minor
• Santiago's Father (segment "Está todo mal") (played by Carlos Moreno) — minor
• Pibe (segment "Vida y obra") (played by Héctor Anglada) — supporting
• Lucía (segment "Está todo mal") (played by Valeria Polnoroff) — supporting
• Architect (segment "Vida y obra") (played by Victoria Palermo) — minor

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Pablo's Sister (segment "Está todo mal") → Pablo (segment "Está todo mal") (sister)
• Santiago's Father (segment "Está todo mal") → Santiago (segment "Está todo mal") (father)
• Santiago's Mother (segment "Está todo mal") → Santiago (segment "Está todo mal") (mother)
• Santiago (segment "Está todo mal") → Lucía (segment "Está todo mal") (Romantic LoveInterest) — Teenage outcast pursuing upper-class girl

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Pibe (segment "Vida y obra") → Architect (segment "Vida y obra") (Alliance CoWorker) — Fellow bricklayers working together
• Omar (segment "Vida y obra") → Pibe (segment "Vida y obra") (Alliance CoWorker) — Fellow bricklayers working together

Story Analysis

Four interconnected vignettes examine ambition, cultural identity, class, and desire in election-era Buenos Aires.

Plot Progression

1. City, Elections, and Opportunity — The film establishes late-1990s Buenos Aires during political elections. A poor country boy enters the city and gains success through an illegal operation.
2. Faith Among Bricklayers — A band of Paraguayan bricklayers tries to restore cultural pride and community. Their encounter with a woman believed by one member to be the Virgin Mary reshapes that search.
3. An Unequal Romance — A teenage outcast seeks romance with an upper-class Buenos Aires girl. Their social difference creates uncertainty around his efforts.
4. Love Behind the Campaign — A political campaign's sound recorder develops feelings for the candidate's girlfriend. Personal desire becomes entangled with the election setting.