In The Official Story, Alicia (Norma Aleandro) lives a comfortable middle class life. The film is about one mother's search for the truth about her adopted daughter and her discovery brings harsh political reality very close to home. Many ended up as desaparecidos, people taken by the government and not returned. As in Pinochet's Chile, the military secret police sought to consolidate their power by routinely torturing and murdering students, political activists, opponents of the regime, and even expectant mothers. In the powerful 1985 film The Official Story, Director Luis Puenzo tells the story of a teacher's awakening to conscience at the end of Argentina's "Dirty War" of the late 70s and early 80s.
THE OFFICAL SORTY MOVIE
The movie should be okay for most teenagers to view. FYI-this movie is rated R because of the intensity of the subject matter and some pretty horrible domestic violence towards the end of the movie. Also, the final confrontation with her husband, though important, is a bit tough to watch (be forewarned). As a result, this movie will definitely get the tears flowing. Aleandro's acting (as well as that of the supporting actors and actresses) is wonderful-so much that you feel yourself feeling what they are trying to portray. The progression is NOT abrupt and it makes sense how it evolves thanks to excellent writing. The acting is superb throughout the film as is the pacing-as she goes from a strict conformist to ultimately demanding to know more. However, she can't live a lie and MUST find out from where they adopted their daughter. When she brings these concerns to her husband, he ignores her and changes the subject-something he did repeatedly throughout the movie. Alicia (Norma Aleandro) is horrified to hear that many adopted babies are probably those taken from these political prisoners that vanished while in police custody. However, unconfirmed stories about where many of these adopted babies came from begin to fall on the ears of our heroine. They are about to celebrate the 5th birthday of their adopted daughter. The story begins with a rich and well-connected family (just how well-connected you find out much later in the story). Now that I've spouted out all that stuff about the historical context for the movie, let's get to the film itself. It was this climate of repression and ultra-nationalistic rhetoric that the fatal invasion of the Falklands was staged-ultimately leading to the ruin and collapse of the Argentinian government. Any possible dissent was wiped out through torture, intimidation and murder. During its reign, literally thousands of people just "disappeared"-never to be seen again. Unfortunately, few people outside of Argentina remember the bad old days of the late 1970s and early 80s and Argentina's military junta.
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