by Joseph Davis, Contributing Writer
The year 1985 had a lot of notable events that occurred. Mikhail Gorbachev was sworn in as the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, New Coke debuted, Studio Ghibli was founded, the wreck of the Titanic was discovered, and the release of “We Are The World” and the Live Aid concert helped raise millions for famine relief in Ethiopia. However, one event that I was unaware of was the Trial of the Juntas in Argentina, where the generals and admirals who had come to power in the 1976 Argentine coup d’état were tried by a civilian court in the country. This trial is the subject of this month’s Out of Market with the film Argentina, 1985. Released earlier this year, and streaming on Amazon Prime, I decided to take a dive into this film starring Ricardo Darín and Peter Lanzani as chief and deputy prosecutors Julio César Strassera and Luis Moreno Ocampo.
Author’s note: while not depicted, triggering subjects such as assault and rape are described and discussed in this film. Viewer discretion is advised.
The part of this film that draws me in first and foremost is the characters we are given. Starting with our main characters, we have someone who is a reluctant hero in Strassera, who is put in the unenviable position of prosecuting the crimes of the people who once led his country and who still remain popular with many in the country. Concurrently, he has to assemble a support team made of people who are essentially fresh to their profession, starting with Luis Ocampo, and then followed by several others with a daunting task ahead of them. The situation each of them finds themselves in makes complete sense, from the initial reluctance to the eventual drive to bring justice for the victims of the Juntas rule, and the drive that the youth have to ensure that the change they’re fighting for will stick. Conversely, the portrayal of the Juntas, albeit brief, is powerful as well. Compared to people trying to drive change, you have people showing a clear disdain for those they are up against. While the focus is namely on the prosecution, as it very well should be, the way both sides carry themselves shows the type of people they are portraying and the way we should see them perfectly.
Next, I want to talk just about how this story is depicted. A significant portion of this film is devoted directly to people who had the bravery to testify against the members of the Junta who were on trial, and I honestly believe that it is all the better for it. There are three actors specifically who provide the bulk of the depicted testimony of the victims, and each does a phenomenal job at portraying their respective roles. At the same time, there are newspaper articles shown on the screen as the scenes they appear help to hammer home exactly how vast the crimes of the Junta was, and while it makes it a tough subject to depict it’s a subject that the filmmakers manage to nail. All the while, our heroes searching for evidence pre-trial and during the trial itself serves as the perfect reminder not only of the power the Junta still had, but also the bravery those who testified were exhibiting just to speak out. There is one point in particular after one character has finished her testimony where the camera lingers on the empty chair in which witnesses provided testimony, which to me provides excellent commentary on the fact that while somewhere near 800 people testified against the Junta, thousands more did not, either by choice or by having their voice silenced. It provides a powerful message for what happened to the people of Argentina, and a message this movie successfully delivered on.
Another area of this film I loved was the style of the sets and setting. Every aspect to make it feel like the 1980’s in Argentina is done so well that I would have to take a significant amount of time to truly identify anything that they got wrong in both clothes and aesthetics. It truly gives you the feeling that you’re peering back in time to the actual events of the film. What I think truly nails this point is the depiction of how the film is shown through the cameras filming both the talking heads of the day and the trial itself. The fact that the style and technology of the day come across so well shows to me just how much the directors, cinematographers, and even the set designers cared about this story. Every moment of this film is both beautiful to see, and moving, allowing for the viewer to truly feel what the characters of this film should be feeling.
Looking over this movie post-watch, I noticed that it is the Argentinian submission for the Best International Feature Film award at the 95th Academy Awards. If it is one of the nominees, and if it is the winner of the award, it by and large would be a worthwhile selection. It’s far more than well presented and well acted; it’s a moving film that tells an all-too-important story. It is a story that still lives on in the recent memory of many, and serves to remind the audience a phrase that I cannot claim as my own but serves as the core reminder of this story. ¡Nunca más!
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