The junta’s trial, an account of Argentina’s years of murderous military dictatorship, set a precedent for the nation and the world: it remains the only case of a public judiciary that has tried its own country’s previous government on such a scale. .
Competing in Venice, Santiago Miter’s new drama examines the historic case from the perspective of its lead prosecutor, framing the story as the story of a bureaucrat rising to the occasion of a historic moment.
Argentina, 1985
A measured portrait of a brave cool eagle.
“Inspired by real events”, the script by Mitri and Mariano Linas, as its protagonist, is more methodical than electrifying. Argentine star Ricardo Darín is using his natural charisma to create international success The secret in your eyes. and mitris the top, gives a performance of containment and intense focus as Julio Stracera, a government attorney who masks his true panic with professional stubbornness. like a miter pauline, the film revolves around a very attached protagonist who faces a brutal reality. For the main character of the 2015 drama, cruelty, lying and politics are specific and personal; for the central figure Argentina, 1985The violence and horrors he had to resort to poisoned the atmosphere of the entire country.
Naturally, the film will resonate more with Argentine audiences, who know firsthand the legacy of the junta’s so-called dirty war against alleged subversives. to a large audience, Argentina, 1985 is an instructive and insightful description of what it takes to hold tyrants accountable within the perimeters of the legal system, the persistence, documentation, and courage it takes to achieve justice.
Avoiding the genre model that demands grandiose scenes, Mitri makes silent revelations. Together with cinematographer Javier Julia and composer Pedro Osuna, the director creates a climate of deep anxiety, though not always a sense of dramatic urgency. The balance between detail and impulse can be off at times, and the director doesn’t entirely avoid the common tropes of legal drama. But it conveys the enormity of the case at the center of the film, the first major war crimes trial since Nuremberg, and is felt in every moment of Darrin’s compelling performance.
Some title letters set the backdrop before the start of the action involving Strassera, the case that would convict nine military commanders, three of them former presidents, of crimes against humanity. The election of President Alfonsín in 1983 ended a seven-year dictatorship and found the junta’s leaders accused of kidnapping, torturing, murdering and making tens of thousands of Argentine citizens disappear. Still, Strassera doesn’t think a civil trial will take place until the difficult task is on his desk. He then wonders if he is being set up like Patsy at Shaw’s trial.
The way Strassera’s rational anxiety sometimes turns to paranoia suggests the ways in which the reign of terror infects society. In addition to fearing the new government will use him, he fears for the safety of his wife Sylvia (Alejandra Flechner) and their children, and rightfully so, given the death threats they have received. Angered by Silvia’s disbelief, Strassera suspects her daughter’s new boyfriend, Veronica (Gina Mastronicola), is an undercover agent trying to get to her. There’s a comedic twist to how he gets his teenage son, Javier, to spy on his brother. It’s a play for which the young man, well played by Santiago Armas Estevarena, has a talent for it, and he uses that talent again, for humorous effects.
Julia’s cinematography captures the bustle of Buenos Aires, the impressive scale of government buildings, where much of the action takes place in crowded offices. Production designer Micaela Saiegh and costume designer Monica Toschi’s extraordinary attention to period detail serves the story well, never distracting Strassera and the work.
As to why Strassera is nicknamed loco (crazy) by friends and foes alike the arrogant public defender Basile (Héctor Díaz), there’s no clue until he makes rude gestures towards the defendant before the trial begins. With his slicked-back hair and impeccable jacket and tie (even at home, he’s rarely seen shirtless), Strassera is the type to turn up his nose. Trying to interpret the mixed signals from the Alfonsini government, speaking of the crimes of the “alleged victims” and apparently supporting the appeals court (Carlos Portalup plays the role of equal leader of the panel), he accomplished the task perfectly. before him. Nervousness and planning and smoking, finding peace in classical music.
who refused to help friends and relatives of political prisoners and absence of When they try to take legal action during the dictatorship, this is one of the gray areas the film acknowledges, even as it celebrates each of their heroics. The implication is that Strassera’s silence during the Dirty War hardly makes him unique, although he was in a better position to act than most.
“The story,” he tells his friend and mentor Alberto (a poignant twist on Norman Briskey), “wasn’t made by guys like me,” which makes the thesis the film sets out to refute pretty clear. With only five months to gather evidence, he must band together and seek the advice of another friend, Carlos Somiliana (Claudio da Passano, excellent), a theater director with legal experience. Their brainstorming session becomes a turning point for their peers as they separate the dead from the living and distinguish between fascists and super-fascists.
Strassera welcomes a deputy prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo (Peter Lanzani), who wisely points out that filling the team with human rights lawyers, the kind who easily dismiss communists as biased, may not be the best strategy for victory. heart and mind. After a comical (albeit familiar) interview montage, the young lawyers and students who join the case take a back seat, primarily serving as the standard for the scope of the investigation and the progress of the case. They spread out across the country to collect testimonies: his leg recalls the efforts of journalists. in the spotlightBut only looking and seen from afar.
Moreno Ocampo is also underdeveloped, except in contrast to Strassera, who helps shape the trajectory of the legal team’s work. As a descendant of a wealthy military family, she has a direct connection to ruling class sentiments, and her mother (Susanna Pampini), in particular, serves as a barometer of that sentiment towards judgment. When the mood changes, following the harrowing display of Adriana Calvo de Laborde (Laura Paredes), who was pregnant when she was kidnapped by the junta, the impact is dampened by some of the script’s most boring dialogue.
The heart of the film is the trial itself, in which Strassera represents 709 cases. His final eight-minute statement is a low-key spectacle. There is no loitering in the courtroom, not even a raised voice. A government official witnesses from his seat the suffering inflicted on thousands of his fellow citizens, gassed for a long time and Argentina, 1985 This reminds us that unfettered truth is a powerful medicine.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
