The Official Story (
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
:
) (
1985-Events:* 3 December - Roger Moore steps down from the role of James Bond after twelve years and seven films. He is replaced by Timothy Dalton.* The Academy Award for Best Picture was won by Out of Africa, while the highest grossing film was Back to the Future.-Top grossing films :source:...
) is an
ArgentineArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
drama filmA drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves,...
directed by
Luis PuenzoLuis Adalberto Puezo is a film director, producer and screenplay writer.He works mainly in the cinema of Argentina, but has worked in the United States.-Biography:...
and written by Puenzo and
Aída BortnikAída Bortnik is an Argentine screenwriter, nominated for an Academy Award for her work in the film La historia oficial .- Career :...
. It has also been released as
The Official Version in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and elsewhere.
The film features
Norma AleandroNorma Aleandro Robledo is an Argentine actress, born in Buenos Aires to Pedro Aleandro and María Luisa Robledo, both actors. Her sister, María Vaner, was a famous actress in Argentina.-Biography:...
and
Héctor AlterioHéctor Benjamín Alterio Onorato is an Argentine theatre, film and television actor, well known both in Argentina and Spain.- Biography :...
, among others.
The film is about a couple in
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital, and largest city, of Argentina, currently the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the eastern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
with an
adopted childAdoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another who is not kin and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
. The mother comes to realize that her daughter may be the child of a
desaparecido, that is, a victim of the
disappearancesA forced disappearance occurs when force is used to cause a person to vanish from public view, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty , thereby placing the victim outside the protection of law.According to the Rome Statute of the International...
that occurred during Argentina's
Dirty WarThe Dirty War refers to the state-sponsored violence against Argentine citizenry and left-wing guerrillas from roughly 1976 to 1983 carried out primarily by Jorge Rafael Videla's military government...
in the 1970s.
Plot
This story, based on real events that took place in Argentina, looks at a married couple torn apart by the campaign of killings and torture that sent thousands of accused political leftists to unmarked graves in the mid 1970s known as the
Dirty WarThe Dirty War refers to the state-sponsored violence against Argentine citizenry and left-wing guerrillas from roughly 1976 to 1983 carried out primarily by Jorge Rafael Videla's military government...
.
The story begins after Alicia (Norma Aleandro), a high school teacher and, Roberto (Héctor Alterio), a wealthy businessman and lawyer, adopt a little girl named Gaby (Analia Castro). After five years have passed Alicia wonders about the parents of Gaby, a topic her husband has told her to forget as it was a condition of the adoption. Yet, he knows the ugly story of his daughter's adoption.
While hard to believe, Alicia, and others in Argentina, are not aware of how much killing and suffering has gone on in the country until her students begin to complain that the "government approved" history books they read were written by government "assassins."
At this time she also has a long conversation with Ana (
Chunchuna VillafañeElva 'Chunchuna' Villafañe is an Argentine film and television actress, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina.She has appeared in film since the year and television 1971.Her most well-known role is as Ana in La historia oficial ....
), an old friend, who had been in exile in Europe for seven years after she was tortured and raped by paramilitary forces loyal to the brutal Argentine government for having lived with a so-called subversive. Alicia begins to do some serious political and personal research on her own.
Alicia learns the identity of Gaby's grandmother, Sara, (Chela Ruiz), who reveals the identity of the girl's dead parents. She finds out that her husband had a hand in the government's nasty repression and has intensive dealings with foreign business interests. At a family dinner Roberto Ibáñez has an intense political argument with his elderly father and brother where he espouses the political view-point of the conservative military ruling elite, and his father and brother argue from the side of social justice.
The film suggests that the old woman may not actually be Gaby's grandmother, and briefly explores the fact that Gaby's true family may never be known. This juxtaposition of fact and emotion are meant to evoke the mood of hope and hopelessness in reaction to a war environment.
The story ends tragically when Alicia confronts her husband. He wants her to forget about the past and look to the future. He becomes enraged and repeatedly slams her head into the wall. Alicia gets her keys to go get Gaby, and we are left to wonder if she will return to her marriage, take Gaby and live alone, or return Gaby to her "real" family. Because she leaves the house keys in the lock, this first scenario seems unlikely.
Background
The film is based on the real political events that took place in Argentina after
Jorge Rafael VidelaJorge Rafael Videla Redondo was the 43rd President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. He came to power in a coup d'état that deposed Isabel Martínez de Perón...
's reactionary military
juntaA military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
assumed power in March 24, 1976. During the
junta's rule, the parliament was suspended; unions, political parties and provincial governments were banned; and, in what became known as the
Dirty WarThe Dirty War refers to the state-sponsored violence against Argentine citizenry and left-wing guerrillas from roughly 1976 to 1983 carried out primarily by Jorge Rafael Videla's military government...
, between 9,000 and 30,000 people deemed left-wing "subversives" disappeared from society.
Like many progressive actors and others in the country, the lead actress in the film, Norma Aleandro, was forced into exile during this time. She traveled to
UruguayUruguay , is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.1 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88–94% of the population are of mostly European and/or mixed descent.Uruguay's only land border is...
first and
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
later. She returned after the fall of the military government in 1983. Aleandro once said, "Alicia's personal search is also my nation's search for the truth about our history. The film is positive in the way it demonstrates that she can change her life despite all she is losing."
The
Official Story can be considered alongside a group of other films that were the first to be made in Argentina after the downfall in 1983 of the last Argentine dictator,
General GaltieriLeopoldo Fortunato Galtieri Castelli was an Argentine general and President of Argentina from 22 December 1981 to 18 June 1982, during the last military dictatorship. The death squad Intelligence Battalion 601 directly reported to him...
, and his autocratic regime. These films deal frankly with the repression, the torture, and the disappearances during Argentina's Dirty War in the 1970s and early 1980s; they include
Funny Little Dirty War (1983) and
Night of the PencilsNight of the Pencils is a Argentine drama film directed by Héctor Olivera and written by Olivera and Daniel Kon. It is based on the non-fiction book by María Seoane and Héctor Ruiz Núñez....
(1986). A second group of films, which includes
Verónico CruzVerónico Cruz is an Argentine and British drama film. The motion picture is directed by Miguel Pereira, his first, and written by Pereira and Eduardo Leiva Muller. The movie was produced by Julio Lencina and Sasha Menocki and features Juan José Camero, Gonzalo Morales, among others...
(1988) uses metaphor and hints at wider socio-political issues.
Production
At first, director Puenzo, fearing for his safety, intended to shoot the film in secret, using hidden 16mm cameras. But the
junta government fell right about the time the screenplay was completed.
The film was entirely shot in
the city of Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital, and largest city, of Argentina, currently the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the eastern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina, including the
Plaza de MayoThe Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located at and it is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
where the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo congregated in the late 1970s with signs and pictures of
desaparecidos who were subjected to forced disappearance by the Argentine military in the
Dirty WarThe Dirty War refers to the state-sponsored violence against Argentine citizenry and left-wing guerrillas from roughly 1976 to 1983 carried out primarily by Jorge Rafael Videla's military government...
.
Cast
- Héctor Alterio
Héctor Benjamín Alterio Onorato is an Argentine theatre, film and television actor, well known both in Argentina and Spain.- Biography :...
as Roberto Ibáñez
- Norma Aleandro
Norma Aleandro Robledo is an Argentine actress, born in Buenos Aires to Pedro Aleandro and María Luisa Robledo, both actors. Her sister, María Vaner, was a famous actress in Argentina.-Biography:...
as Alicia Marnet de Ibáñez
- Chunchuna Villafañe
Elva 'Chunchuna' Villafañe is an Argentine film and television actress, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina.She has appeared in film since the year and television 1971.Her most well-known role is as Ana in La historia oficial ....
as Ana
- Hugo Arana as Enrique
- Guillermo Battaglia as José
- Chela Ruiz as Sara
- Patricio Contreras
Patricio Contreras is a well-known Chilean-Argentine film actor.-Life and work:Contreras was born in Santiago, Chile in 1947 and emigrated to neighboring Argentina following the 1973 coup d'état against left-wing President Salvador Allende, of whom Contreras was a vocal supporter...
as Benítez
- María Luisa Robledo as Nata
- Aníbal Morixe as Miller
- Jorge Petraglia as Macci
- Analía Castro as Gaby
- Daniel Lago as Dante
- Augusto Larreta as General
Critical reception
The film won many awards when first released and, as such, the drama was widely well received in the 1980s. Walter Goodman, film critic for
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
, believes the film was well balanced, and wrote, "Mr. Puenzo's film is unwaveringly committed to human rights, yet it imposes no ideology or doctrine. The further miracle is that this is the 39-year-old director's first feature film."
Critic
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter.He is known for his film review column and for two television programs Sneak Previews and Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel...
lauded the film in his film review, writing, "
The Official Story is part polemic, part thriller, part tragedy. It belongs on the list with films like
ZZ is a 1969 French language political thriller directed by Costa Gavras, with a screenplay by Gavras and Jorge Semprún, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos. The film presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek...
,
MissingMissing is a 1982 film directed by Costa Gavras, starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea and Charles Cioffi. It is based on the true story of American journalist Charles Horman, who disappeared in the bloody aftermath of the US-backed Chilean coup of 1973 that deposed...
and
El NorteThe Spanish phrase El Norte may refer to any of the following places or things:* El Norte , a 1983 motion picture directed by Gregory Nava.* El Norte , a Mexican daily newspaper, published in the state of Nuevo Léon....
, which examine the human aspects of political unrest. It is a movie that asks some very hard questions...Alicia is played in the movie by Norma Aleandro, whose performance won the best actress award at this year's
Cannes Film Festival-Jury:*Miloš Forman *Claude Imbert *Edwin Zbonek *Francis Veber *Jorge Amado *Mauro Bolognini *Michel Perez *Mo Rothmann *Néstor Almendros *Sarah Miles...
. It is a performance that will be hard to forget, particularly since so much of it is internal. Some of the key moments in the film come as we watch Aleandro and realize what must be taking place inside her mind, and inside her conscience. Most political films play outside the countries that they are about; "The Official Story" is now actually playing in Argentina, where it must be almost unbearably painful for some of the members of its audiences. It was almost as painful for me."
Film critics Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, of the website
Spirituality and Practice, were painfully touched by the story they viewed. They write, "
The Official Story is a wrenching and painful drama that crystallizes the horror and the obscenity of political activities that annihilate family solidarity in the name of ideology...
The Official Story packs a shattering visceral punch."
Critic Ken Hanke of the
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
Mountain XpressThe Mountain Xpress is a free alternative newspaper covering news, arts, local politics, and events in Asheville and western North Carolina. Published each Wednesday in print and online, it has a print circulation of about 31,221...
finds fault with the story, which he felt at times played out like a soap opera, but argues that it is still close to being a textbook example of how to use a personal story to tell and illuminate a much larger view. He believes that Alicia's political awakening is what gives the film "its strength and its resonance."
A few critics were dismissive of the story Puenzo tells. For example,
The Chicago ReaderThe Chicago Reader is an alternative newsweekly publication in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was a pioneer of the urban free-weekly movement, founded in 1971 by a group of friends who attended Carleton College...
s Dave Kehr thought "Puenzo's methods are so crudely manipulative...that the film quickly uses up the credit of its good intentions."
Distribution
The Official Story first opened in Argentina on April 3, 1985. It has also been featured at various film festivals including the Toronto Film Festival, the
Berlin International Film FestivalThe Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
, the
Cannes Film Festival-Jury:*Miloš Forman *Claude Imbert *Edwin Zbonek *Francis Veber *Jorge Amado *Mauro Bolognini *Michel Perez *Mo Rothmann *Néstor Almendros *Sarah Miles...
, and the
Mar del Plata Film FestivalThe Mar del Plata International Film Festival is a prestigious international film festival that takes place every year, during the month of November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina...
.
Awards
Wins
- Academy Awards
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
: Oscar; Best Foreign Film; 1985.
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: LAFCA Award Best Foreign Film; (tied with Ran
is a 1985 film written and directed by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. It is a jidaigeki depicting the fall of Hidetora Ichimonji , an aging Sengoku-era warlord who decides to abdicate as ruler in favor of his three sons...
); 1985.
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards
New York Film Critics Circle Awards are given annually to honor excellence in cinema worldwide by an organization of film reviewers from New York City-based publications. It is considered one of the most important precursors to the Academy Awards....
: NYFCC Award Best Actress; Norma Aleandro; 1985.
- Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival begins the Thursday night after Labour Day and lasts for ten days. Between 300-400 films are screened at approximately 23 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
: People's Choice Award, Luis Puenzo, 1985.
- Premios ACE: Premio ACE Cinema; Best Actress, Norma Aleandro; Cinema - Best Director, Luis Puenzo; Cinema - Best Film; 1986.
- Golden Globes: Best Foreign Language Film; 1986.
- Argentinian Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Actress, Norma Aleandro; Best Cinematography, Félix Monti; Best Director, Luis Puenzo; Best Editing, Juan Carlos Macías; Best Film; Best New Actress, Analía Castro; Best Original Screenplay, Aída Bortnik and Luis Puenzo; Best Supporting Actor, Patricio Contreras; Best Supporting Actress, Chela Ruíz; 1986.
- Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
: Interfilm Award, Otto Dibelius Film Award, Luis Puenzo, (tied with Un Complicato intrigo di donne, vicoli e delitti); 1986.
- Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Miloš Forman *Claude Imbert *Edwin Zbonek *Francis Veber *Jorge Amado *Mauro Bolognini *Michel Perez *Mo Rothmann *Néstor Almendros *Sarah Miles...
: Best ActressThe Best Actress Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946.- Award Winners :-External links:* * ....
, Norma Aleandro; Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Luis Puenzo; 1985.
- Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
The Kansas City Film Critics Circle is a group of media film critics and one of the oldest recognized voting groups in the country. It was founded by the late Dr. Loutzenhiser....
: KCFCC Award Best Foreign Film; 1986.
- David di Donatello Awards: David Best Foreign Actress, Norma Aleandro; 1987.
Nominations
- Academy Awards: Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen; 1985.
- Cannes Film Festival: Golden Palm, Luis Puenzo; 1985.
- Sant Jordi Awards: Sant Jordi Award; Best Foreign Actress, Norma Aleandro; 1987.
See also
- Maria Eugenia Sampallo
Maria Eugenia Sampallo is an Argentinian known for being the first person to take a couple who illegally adopted her as a baby to court for kidnapping her when her parents disappeared along with thousands of others in a military purge of radicals, known as the Dirty War...
- Cautiva
Cautiva is an Argentine film that concerns itself with what happened to the children of the people killed after the 1970s military coup. Cristina Quadri is the model of a perfect student. Smart and affluent, her life is in perfect order until, one day, she is called from her class and made to...
, Another film about the children stolen during the Dirty War
External links
- La historia oficial at the cinenacional.com
Cinenacional.com is a web portal and web-based database about Argentine cinema.The site provides a vast array of information, including: films, television programs, directors, actors, cinematographers, film editors, production designers, and other production professions in Argentina...
- La historia oficial 20th Anniversary in Argentina