The Official Story explores the crimes of the Argentine regime from an unusual perspective. Whereas movies of this nature like to give voice to guerrillas, journalists, the common man or innocent foreigners, Luis Puenzo's drama depicts the life of Alicia, the well-to-do wife of an army officer, Roberto. Evidently life is good for them; Alicia is a high school history teacher blissfully unaware of the crimes her happiness is built on.
But one day Alicia starts wandering about the origin of her daughter, Gaby: Roberto brought her home and Alicia always believed she came from a mother who didn't want the child or couldn't keep her. But what if Gaby is the child of a woman who was murdered by the regime? What if the mother is one of the many 'missing'? What if there is still family looking for the child? From this premise Luis Puenzo and his screenwriter Aída Bortnik – author of the La Tregua, another critically-admired Argentine movie – paint a portrait of an entire society coming to terms with their past and the truth.
I found the movie extremely slow, but not in the good way that Antonioni or Kubrick can be slow while marveling the viewer with unique camera work and cinematography. This is just a well-written drama without extraordinary visual feats, with strong performances from all the characters. Towards the end the movie starts picking up and the climax is unforgettable. Although I didn't love this movie as much as a I wanted – being a big fan of Argentine literature – I still recommend watching it for the conflict that is at the heart of the movie.
But one day Alicia starts wandering about the origin of her daughter, Gaby: Roberto brought her home and Alicia always believed she came from a mother who didn't want the child or couldn't keep her. But what if Gaby is the child of a woman who was murdered by the regime? What if the mother is one of the many 'missing'? What if there is still family looking for the child? From this premise Luis Puenzo and his screenwriter Aída Bortnik – author of the La Tregua, another critically-admired Argentine movie – paint a portrait of an entire society coming to terms with their past and the truth.
I found the movie extremely slow, but not in the good way that Antonioni or Kubrick can be slow while marveling the viewer with unique camera work and cinematography. This is just a well-written drama without extraordinary visual feats, with strong performances from all the characters. Towards the end the movie starts picking up and the climax is unforgettable. Although I didn't love this movie as much as a I wanted – being a big fan of Argentine literature – I still recommend watching it for the conflict that is at the heart of the movie.