The Official Story
| The Official Story | |
|---|---|
| File:Historia Oficial.jpg DVD Cover | |
| Directed by | Luis Puenzo |
| Written by | Aída Bortnik Luis Puenzo |
| Produced by | Marcelo Piñeyro |
| Starring | Héctor Alterio Norma Aleandro Chunchuna Villafañe |
| Cinematography | Félix Monti |
| Edited by | Juan Carlos Macías |
| Music by | Atilio Stampone Song: María Elena Walsh |
| Distributed by | Almi Pictures Koch-Lorber Films Production Company: Historias Cinematograficas |
Release dates | Argentina: April 3, 1985 Canada: September 13, 1985 United States: November 8, 1985 |
Running time | 112 minutes |
| Country | Argentina |
| Language | Spanish |
The Official Story (Spanish: La Historia Oficial) is a 1985 Argentine film directed by Luis Puenzo and written by Puenzo and Aída Bortnik. It has also been released as The Official Version in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.[1][2]
The film is about a couple in Buenos Aires with an adopted child. The mother comes to realize that her daughter may be the child of a desaparecido, that is, a victim of the disappearances that occurred during Argentina's Dirty War in the 1970s.
The film stars Norma Aleandro, Héctor Alterio, and others.
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 War.
The story begins when Alicia (Norma Aleandro), a high school teacher and, Roberto (Héctor Alterio), a wealthy businessman, adopt a little girl named Gaby (Analia Castro). After five years 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 the students that she teaches 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 Villafane), an old friend, who had been in exile in Europe after she was tortured by paramilitary forces loyal to the brutal Argentine government. Alicia begins to do some serious political and personal research on her own.
She discovers the identity of Gaby's dead parents and finds out that her husband had a hand in the government nasty repression and has intensive dealings with foreign business interests.
Alicia also learns the identity of the girl's grandmother (Chela Ruiz).
Background
The film is based on the real political events that took place in Argentina after Jorge Rafael Videla's reactionary military junta 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 War between 9,000 and 30,000 people deemed left-wing "subversives" disappeared from society.[3]
Like many progressives in the country, the lead actress in the film, Norma Aleandro, was forced into exile during this time. She traveled to Uruguay first and Spain later. She returned after the fall of the military government in 1982.[4] 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."[5]
The Official Story can be considered alongside a group of other films that were the first to be made in Argentina since the downfall in 1982 of the last Argentine dictator, General Galtieri and his autocratic regime. These films deal frankly with the repression, the tortures, 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 Pencils (1986). A second group of films, which includes Veronico Cruz (1988) uses metaphor and hints at wider socio-political issues.[6][7]
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.[8]
The film was entirely shot in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, including the Plaza de Mayo 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 War.
Exhibition
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 Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, and the Mar del Plata Film Festival.
Critical reception
The film was widely well received in the 1980s and won many awards. Walter Goodman of New York Times believes the film was well balanced: "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."[9]
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." [10]
Critic Ken Hanke of the North Carolina Mountain Xpress 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."[11]
A few critics were dismissive of the story Puenzo tells. For example, The Chicago Reader's Dave Kehr thought "Puenzo's methods are so crudely manipulative...that the film quickly uses up the credit of its good intentions."[12]
Currently, the film has a 100% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on nine reviews.[13]
Cast and ratings
Template:Infobox movie certificates
- Héctor Alterio as Roberto Ibáñez
- Norma Aleandro as Alicia Marnet de Ibáñez
- Chunchuna Villafañe as Ana
- Hugo Arana as Enrique
- Guillermo Battaglia as Jose
- Chela Ruíz as Sara
- Patricio Contreras as Benitez
- María Luisa Robledo as Nata
- Aníbal Morixe as Miller
- Jorge Petraglia as Macci
- Analia Castro as Gaby
- Daniel Lago as Dante
- Augusto Larreta as General
Awards
Wins
- Academy Awards: Oscar; Best Foreign Film; 1985.
- Toronto International Film Festival: People's Choice Award Luis Puenzo; 1985.
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: LAFCA Award Best Foreign Film; (tied with Ran); 1985.
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards: NYFCC Award Best Actress; Norma Aleandro; 1985.
- Toronto International Film Festival: 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, Analia Castro; Best Oiginal Screenplay, Aída Bortnik and Luis Puenzo; Best Supporting Actor, Patricio Contreras; Best Supporting Actress, Chela Ruíz; 1986.
- Berlin International Film Festival: Interfilm Award, Otto Dibelius Film Award, Luis Puenzo, (tied with Un Complicato intrigo di donne, vicoli e delitti); 1986.
- Cannes Film Festival: Best Actress, Norma Aleandro; Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Luis Puenzo; 1986.
- Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards: 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.
Footnotes
- ^ Channel 4 film review.
- ^ Time Out London. Time Out Film Guide 13, 2007.
- ^ The Vanished Gallery.
- ^ Curran, Daniel. Cinebooks: Foreign Films, McPherson's Publishing: 1989, page 132.
- ^ Blommers, Thomas J. "Social and Cultural Circularity in La historia oficial," California State University-Bakersfield.
- ^ Cinergía movie file by Cristina Molano-Wendt, Amy Bianchi, Shannon Tierny, and Brian Sabella. For educational purposes.
- ^ new internationalist. Issue 192, February 1989.
- ^ Curran, Daniel. Ibid, page 133.
- ^ Goodman, Walter. New York Times, "Argentine Love and Lost," November 8, 1985.
- ^ Brussat, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. Spirituality and Practice, film review.
- ^ Hanke, Ken. North Carolina Mountain Xpress, film review.
- ^ Kehr, Dave. The Chicago Reader, film review.
- ^ The Official Story at Rotten Tomatoes. Last accessed: January 22, 2007.
External links
- Roger Ebert film review, November 11, 1985.
