The Road to San Diego, at the SFIFF, is the story of Tati, from Pozo Azul, a small town in the Northeast Argentinian Misiones province (between Paraguay and Brazil), who embarks on a spiritual quest to deliver a timber statue of his hero and idol, the notorious soccer player, Diego Maradona, to Maradona himself.
Tati, who is suited day in and day out in a soccer jersey bearing Maradona’s number (10), and, like many Argentinians, worships Maradona. One day, during a torrential rainstorm, Tati discovers a very large tree root, which he convinces himself and many others (and even us along the way) resembles Maradona. A funny side note: when Tati brings the statue home, it’s not too popular with his three young children, who find the “tree” rather ominous.
We grew to appreciate through the film, which takes Tati on a very long, adventurous journey from Misiones to Buenos Aires, the massive rivalry between Maradona and the Brazilian soccer star, Pele. Tati’s Maradona statue opens doors and friendships along his journey (and closes some as well), and introduces us to a number of very colorful characters, including a Brazilian truckdriver who initially refuses Tati a ride because it would be sacrilegious given the driver’s Pele loyalty (note the proud and prominent display of Pele’s jersey in the cab of the truck). We also encounter “Gauchito Gil” followers, a former pop culture legend who’s become somewhat of a saint to some Argentinians, a mass of rural, small-town residents who have shut down a major thoroughfare en route to Buenos Aires to protest a business closing, numerous hysterical Maradona fans -- and not to mention the owls, parrots, chicks, and other wildlife along the way.
