Argentina1985 Review: Gripping Legal Drama Succeeds On All Fronts
Argentina, 1985 is a deceptively clever bit of filmmaking that, as long as people are willing to traverse that one-inch barrier of subtitles, should be as embraced by casual moviegoers as seasoned cinephiles. It is a based-on-a-true-story legal drama that largely follows the narrative beats of that genre, long one of Hollywood's most stirring.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY In the opening moments of the movie from director Santiago Mitre, Julio César Strassera is on the precipice of a uniquely important opportunity. After years under a brutal military dictatorship, Argentina once again has a democratic government, and the new regime is set to try the leaders of the old one for crimes against humanity.
Crucial to this as well is the respect shown by the filmmakers for the real-life horrors that made this trial a necessity. In what's known as the Dirty War, the military junta kidnapped, tortured, murdered, and disappeared thousands of so-called dissidents without due process, and the prosecutors are tasked with proving that these actions were part of an organized campaign of state terror that could not have happened without signoff at the highest levels.
The filmmakers seem aware that the best method for historically documenting a holocaust, better than photographs or written accounts or recreations in fiction, is recorded testimony - hearing a victim's story in their own voice. In the courtroom scenes, the camera simply captures the human emotion on display in the actors' performances, as well as in what seem to be snippets of integrated archival footage from the trial itself.
This isn't to say the movie is without formal flash, and the uses of montage and cinematography are crucial for settling the viewer into the time period. Nor does this mean the movie is dour. On the contrary, it is littered with laughs, the script confident that levity won't in any way harm the weightiness of the story.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Argentina, 1985 Is a Procedural PowerhouseArgentina1985 makes the most ambitious trial against fascist human rights violations in Latin American history into a gripping procedural. nataliakeogan's review of Argentina's Oscar submission:
Read more »
A brutal military dictatorship goes on trial in Oscar contender 'Argentina, 1985'In 'Argentina, 1985,' actor Ricardo Darín and director Santiago Mitre dramatize the trial that held a military dictatorship accountable for atrocities.
Read more »
Queen Sugar: How Ava DuVernay Elevated Women Directors (With Oprah’s Help)For seven seasons, Ava DuVernay’s ‘Queen Sugar’ has employed only women directors. At last count, 42 of them held the job, 39 of them first-time episodic television directors.
Read more »
‘The Peripheral’ Review: Chloe Grace Moretz in Amazon Drama Tailor-Made for the ‘Westworld’-Weary'Westworld' creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan and 'A Simple Plan' author Scott Smith adapt William Gibson's high-tech time travel story about a gamer who might save two worlds.
Read more »
New head of EPA office of environmental justice says they're putting civil rights into agency's DNAThe EPA has long been complicit in environmental racism. But now, a new office has been implemented to oversee environmental justice and civil rights and has been granted $3 billion to put toward remedying injustices.
Read more »