Integrating the uncertainty sweeping Argentina, in the early 1980s, with one woman's realisation of her unknowing complicity in this reign of terror, The Official Story is a deeply moving debut. In the years following the Falklands War the military junta, then in power, ripped Argentina apart with its death throes. No one escaped the touch of this regime, though some fared better than others (the most unlucky ended up as desaparecidos, victims taken by the government and never returned).
Alicia (Norma Aleandro) and her husband Roberto (Héctor Alterio) are fortunate, remaining safe and wealthy through Roberto's high-level contacts. They have a daughter, Gaby (Analia Castro), upon whom love and attention is lavished, despite the fact that she's adopted. An old friend of Alicia's, Ana (Chunchuna Villafane), has recently returned to Argentina after spending many years in exile, in Europe. Alicia is overjoyed to see her and catch up on old news, yet she's always been puzzled over why Ana left without saying goodbye. In a painfully emotional session Ana reveals that she was taken away and tortured for over a month, after which she had to depart immediately.
A fragment of information that Ana reveals worms its way into Alicia's subconscious and
torments her; among the prisoners were many pregnant women, some of whom had their babies
taken away and given to high ranking government families. Since Gaby is now five years old and
Alicia has no idea where she came from, Roberto organised the adoption, this frightful
possibility refuses to disappear. A further area of upset concerns Alicia's university class, where
she teaches history. The students are routinely disbelieving of written records, contesting that
history is written by assassins (such as the military) and wholly untrustworthy. To a bourgeois
and protected Alicia these actions are incomprehensible. However, caught between her students
and Ana, Alicia is trapped by the pincers of truth and unable to escape. Turning detective she
embarks on a hunt to find Gaby's real mother, or to at least determine what happened to her.
Since Roberto is aggressively evasive, this involves tracking down scraps of hospital records and
witnesses to Gaby's birth.
In her increasingly obsessed and desperate search, Alicia meets Sara (Chela Ruiz), who is a member of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. This is a large group of women who are demanding to know what has happened to their children, after they were grabbed by the military. Misunderstanding the situation, assuming that Alicia is looking for her daughter, Sara helps by showing her numerous albums of the vanished and tracking down information on Gaby's birth. While this is occurring hints of Roberto's connections with the military briefly come into view, such as when Alicia visits his offices and (possibly) sees a man being garroted. He is under immense pressure (as the junta disintegrates) and always reacts badly when Alicia enquires into Gaby's parentage.
Inevitably Sara discovers the existence of Gaby and, in a strange twist of fate, notices a strong resemblance between Gaby and her own long-lost daughter.
A thoroughly humanistic tale, which only tangentially makes political points, the power of The
Official Story arises from its basis in reality. Thousands of people really were murdered in
Argentina and although this movie is a piece of fiction, it represents a situation which is almost
horrific beyond belief. The acting is generally excellent, illustrating the fluidity of the times and
the difficulties facing each character, yet never descending into melodrama. Aleandro is superb
as a typical middle-class woman who finds that her viewpoint is based upon fallacies and
becomes compelled to force a situation which she knows will be destructive. To uncover the fate
of Gaby's mother serves no solid purpose yet Alicia must do this, for peace of mind. The
cumulative impact of small details and incidents is devastating, slowly building to a climax and
still ending in ambiguity, such is the control of the script. However, The Official Storyis so good
that it introduces far more questions than it can hope to answer (some of which simply can't be
solved), leaving us desperate for further information (see Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo for
further insights).
Autor: Piñeyro, Marcelo (dir.)
Tango Feroz : la leyenda de Tanguito [Vídeo] / Piñeyro,
Marcelo (dir.)
Publicación: España : Mandala y Kuranda Films (Prod.), 1993
Descripción: 1 vídeo, VHS/NTSC ; 125'color
Leonor, a widow in a small South American town, gives birth to Charlotte, a dwarf. The mother
not only provides a rich childhood for her daughter, she erases any clues her daughter might see
that would lead her to think she is different (mother burns books such as "Snow White" and
destroys lawn statues of gnomes). In short, she doesn't want to talk about it. The mother succeeds
in creating a modern-day Rapunzel: Charlotte becomes an accomplished young woman who
captures the heart of Ludovico. But then, the circus comes to town.
videorecording Macondo Cine-Video ; Tobasco Films.
Published:
Burbank, California : Columbia Tristar Home Video, <1992>
Description:
1 videocassette (103 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in.
Subject: Feature films.
Julia (Rojo) is a phone operator in Mexico City who divides her time between her job, her
daughter and the danzon: a cuban dance very popular in Mexico and Central America. Every
wednesday Julia does the danzon with Carmelo (Rergis) in the old "Salon Colonia". They've
danced for years but barely know each other. One night Carmelo disappears without a trace.
Feeling lonely and sad, Julia takes a train to Veracruz, where she knows Carmelo has a brother.
That sudden trip will change Julia's life forever.
PG-13)
By Hal Hinson
Washington Post Staff Writer
November 06, 1992
In Mexican director Maria Novaro's lovely new film "Danzon," love's language and rituals, the choreography of dreams. The central dreamer is a fortyish Mexico City telephone operator named Julia (Maria Rojo), who lives for the nights when she can toss away her daily worries and, with others like her, dance a stylized ballroom box step called the danzon.
The moves of the danzon have the same peacock eroticism of the tango; the partners must follow strict rules of deportment and technique. And Julia is a stickler for the rules. The hands must be in just the right position, the eyes unfocused and roving, only occasionally making contact with those of your partner.
Most dancers are not as disciplined or expert as Julia, whose whole emotional life seems to begin and end with the danzon. For six years she has danced with one partner, Carmelo (Daniel Rergis), a tall, silent man with gentle eyes, and together they have won a number of competitions. But she and Carmelo have spoken barely a word to each other off the dance floor. They're silent partners, each living lives that the other knows nothing about.
Then one Wednesday night, Carmelo fails to show up; he's vanished, and suddenly, Julia realizes just how important he's become in her life. Determined to find her friend, she sets off for Vera Cruz, where he is supposedly a cook.
She never finds him (at least not in Vera Cruz), but she does find herself. Novaro's direction is as romantic and restrained as the danzon itself. Julia's journey of self-discovery -- she makes new friends and has a brief affair with a very young, very handsome sailor -- is filtered through Novaro's distinctly feminine sensibility.
The emphasis is on the emotional core of every scene, and the subtle give and take -- the emotional partnering -- of her characters.
Love is the crux of "Danzon." At the docks where Julia searches for Carmelo, the ships have been given wistful, melancholy names like "You See Me and Suffer" or "Pure Illusions." Walking among them, searching, Julia becomes a woman for all ages, a nearly classical heroine, looking out over the seas for the man of her dreams.
Rojo is perfect for her role; she's old enough to have earned the world-weary lines around her eyes, yet still young and sexy enough to turn men's heads. (She brings to mind Carmen Maura, the great star of Pedro Almodovar's early films.) When she returns home, leaving her young lover behind, she seems to have passed a turning point: With or without Carmelo, she has decided to live, not merely to exist.
Credits:
Screenplay, Beatriz and Maria Novaro; editors, Nelson Rodriguez and
Maria Novaro; sound, Nerio Barberis ; Producer, Jorge Sanchez ;
director, Maria Novaro.
Performers:
Maria Rojo, Blanca Guerra, Tito Vasconcelos, Carmen Salinas.
Notes:
"Spanish with yellow English subtitles."
Videocassette release of 1991 motion picture.
VHS format.
Summary:
A surprising love story about a woman who finally discovers the
passion that has been missing from her life.
Eliseo Subiela
Lado oscuro del corazón, El (1992)
Oliveiro is a young poet living in Buenos Aires where sometimes he has to sale his ideas to an advertising agencie to make a living or exchange his poems for a steak. In Montevideo, he met a prostitute, Ana, with whom he fell in love. Back in Buenos Aires, he accept a contract with a publicity agencie to get the money for three days of love with her. Will he get what his searching for when his ideal of love's pleasure is literaly going in levitation while making love?