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Films of Distinction at the Academy Awards
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10954 |
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THE ARTS
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6 / 1986 |
1,637 Words |
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Debra Wishik
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The Academy Awards may long be over but the foreign films and documentaries that were nominated are only now playing in theatres around the country. The Official Story, winner of the Oscar for best foreign film, was first conceived of as a low-budget 16mm film for both financial and political reasons. Screenwriter and first-time director Luis Puenzo wanted the story to be filmed with Argentinian actress Norma Aleandro. But Aleandro spent several years living in exile outside her native Argentina until 1981. Then production with added funds began.
Aleandro portrays Alicia, a history teacher married to Roberto (Hector Alterio), a businessman with some political dealings. Alicia is devoted to her young adopted daughter. However, after Ana (Chunchuna Villafane), a friend of Alicia's returns from exile with her stories of torture and disappearances, Alicia begins to question the parentage of her child. Alicia asks Roberto but backs off when he resists offering any information. But Alicia continues to investigate on her own: she watches the demonstrations of the relatives of the "desaparecido" (the missing); she tracks down hospital records. Alicia doesn't discuss her search with her husband, who is having his own political difficulty. But she must confront him when she uncovers an old woman who may be her daughter's grandmother.
This a frightening film, not only because the situation is based on actual events, but because the performances are so powerful. Questions will be raised because of the plot. It seems a bit strange that Alicia hadn't wondered about her daughter earlier, after the baby was brought home from the hospital. Alicia is a teacher, knowledgeable about her country's past, but seemingly unaware of present political upheaval. But we're so removed from this situation, I don't know if I would ask questions if I thought my child's life or my marriage would be in jeopardy. The climatic scene of The Official Story will not fail to arouse and alarm viewers.
Also treating life in Argentina is the nominated documentary Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza De Mayo, which has won many international awards. This is a documentary account of the women who demonstrated each week in the Plaza, demanding to know what had happened to their loved ones who have disappeared. It is these mothers that the fictional character in The Official Story sees and initially tries to ignore. The group began as fourteen mothers demonstrating and gradually, as more women overcame their fears, grew to thousands. Even today, each Thursday, the group continues to demand information about their missing relatives.
The filmmakers are Susana Murnoz, and Argentinian filmmaker, and Lourdes Portillo, a California filmmaker. They have chosen to tell the story though the mother: The mothers show pictures of their missing children and talk about their children. One particularly articulate woman, Mrs. Rene Epelbaum, appears in the film and has been giving interviews to promote it. She lost three children and fervently believes, "Memory is necessary to prevent the horrors from occurring again." Sadly thinking of her lost children, Epelbaum explains, "You want the memory alive...you want to help other people, other young people, to live with dignity." Epelbaum is especially angry that the people responsible, both military and government officials, have not been brought to justice. Some officials have received light sentences in trials lasting three years; Epelbaum readily gave depositions about her children's disappearances but she has never
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