Set before the coup that installed a military junta in Argentina, Benjamín Naishtat´s satire is a disturbing parable of iniquityWhat must it have been like to live with Argentina´s desaparecidos phenomenon? They were the `disappeared` ones who in the mid-70s began to be removed from their homes for leftism or trade unionism - spirited away without a trial, without a trace. This subtly disturbing, queasily tense satirical nightmare from 33-year-old Argentinian film-maker Benjamín Naishtat answers that question with a story of group neurosis and complicit wretchedness. He shows that, for those left behind, what also gradually disappeared was their peace of mind, their self-respect and their ability to communicate what was happening or how they felt: an uncanny, insidious erosion of self. A whole nation relapsed into silence, punctuated by outbursts of anger, out of shame that they hadn´t spoken up and fear that the same thing could happen to them, too. The elephant that had once been in the room had now vanished, and nobody wanted to say a thing about it. (That is, until the courageous Mothers of the Plaza De Mayo protest movement, composed of mothers demanding to know what had happened to their children.) Continue reading...
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