Directed by Marcelo Piíƒ ±eyro. Starring Cecilia Roth and Ricardo Daríƒ ­n. In Spanish with English subtitles. Unrated. Plays Friday to Sunday, March 31 to April 9, at the Vancity Theatre

Life is risk. That's the main message of Kamchatka, which actually takes its title from the Russian peninsula found in the famous board game in which players roll the dice from the nonsafety of separate countries and their temporary armies.

The country that is separating from itself in this sublimely controlled emotional experience is Argentina. And the action, as handled by veteran director Marcelo Piíƒ ±eyro (Son of the Bride), takes place in the frightening days after the 1976 military coup that saw thousands of leftists, intellectuals, and potential "terrorists" rounded up. Things centre on a single family that suddenly uproots from Buenos Aires to depart for places, and futures, unknown.

The mom (All About My Mother's marvellous Cecilia Roth) is a research scientist and nervous chain smoker, while the dad (charismatic Ricardo Daríƒ ­n, from Nine Queens and Piíƒ ±eyro's Burnt Money) is a human-rights lawyer-a dicey proposition at the best of times. With a fresh tip about a vacant summer house, they grab their two young sons from school and hightail it to the country, under instantly assumed names.

The seven-year-old, nicknamed Midget (Milton De La Canal) responds by wetting the bed and other forms of anxiety, while his older brother (Matíƒ ­as Del Pozo) acts tough and responsible. On arrival, the bigger boy finds a left-behind book on Harry Houdini and takes on the escape artist's first name; his father goes by David Vincent-the lead character of The Invaders, an American sci-fi series, heavy on Cold War symbolism, that they enjoy watching regularly on cheap TV sets, even while on the run.

The sense of life taken over by alien forces-the kind that sees things in black-and-white-gives an ominous tinge to every scene of Kamchatka. But the predominant tone is one of great tenderness. It's a rare drama that focuses on such a functional family although they still carry the usual foibles and flaws. When the "Vincents" go farther into the country to visit the dad's own father and mother (Argentine stalwarts Héctor Alterio and Fernanda Mistral), it's impossible to tell which resultant tensions relate to current events-was there ever a time when U.S. taxpayer dollars haven't gone toward spreading misery overseas?-and which are fixed in their own history.

History is what this family can't afford, a point made poignantly with the sudden arrival of a gentle teenager (Tomíƒ ¡s Fonzi, also from Nine Queens) whose name, and reasons for running, they never learn. Despite, or maybe because of, the high stakes involved, the poetry and pain of everyday life become heartbreakingly apparent. Dictators come and go, but it's still important for children to rescue toads trapped in a leaf-strewn pool.