‘Argentina, 1985’: The process that made history

Santiago Miter has outlined his authorial and political perspective in his way of doing things. After two independent and magnificent proposals, which were ‘El Estudiante’ and ‘Paulina’, in which he showed a not very accommodating face of politics and how difficult it was to fit in depending on the type of situation; The Argentine director took it a step further with ‘La Cordillera’, much more formally ambitious and a logical step for what came next, ‘Argentina, 1985’, with which the director portrays one of the most important episodes in the contemporary history of his country: the Juicio de las Juntas.

The Process of the Commissions was the judicial process carried out by the Argentine Civil Justice in 1985 with a decree of the President of the RepublicRaúl Ricardo Alfonsín, on the members of the first three military juntas that existed during the dictatorship and which were called the National Reorganization Process. The reason for the trial was the serious and massive violations of human rights and for this five of the soldiers were sentenced on 9 December 1985, including Jorge R. Videla and Emilio Eduardo Massera.presidents of the republic during the coup, which they were sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity. Given the international impact of the process, it is considered one of the most important carried out by civil justice after the famous Nuremberg Trials.

Such is the importance of this fact, especially in a democracy reborn from its ashes like that of Argentina after the fall of the regime in 1983, which only a filmmaker with such a particular gaze as Miter was able to make a film that goes beyond the conventional without giving up the classic structure of judicial cinema, to which he adds typical elements of historical cinema. Miter, who co-wrote the script with Mariano Llinás, chooses to show how the legal team of prosecutor Julio César Strassera was formed, who had Luis Moreno Ocampo, who was only 32 years old at the time, as his assistant.

The film shows how complicated the process was, given that it was still a fragile democracy, who was recovering from the trauma of the previous regime. Proof of this is that the prosecutor had to have an incredibly young team, inexperienced and, therefore, free from the commitment of facing old acquaintances. The tape also shows how difficult it was to find documentation, evidence and witnesses. Not so much because there weren’t any (and boy, there were!), But because the initial fear of speaking out, of denouncing the state terrorism that permeated the Videla regime.

Sublime exercise of judicial and historical cinema

Miter manages to avoid any melodramatic hints, in a rigorous, solemn drama, in which the emotions remain only in the declarations of the victims and victims. The testimonies of the victims freeze the blood and it is here that the director’s experience is seen in the naturalness of the rawness, as he captured it in the aforementioned ‘Paulina’. Secondly, he knows how to endow him with the ceremonious sense of historical cinema, especially when Prosecutor Strassera delivers his reportin which he says two words that are living history and historical memory of Argentine democracy: “Never again”.

A film so aware of the events it tells, that it had to have a protagonist up to the occasion. Therefore It is more than logical that Ricardo Darín is the one who embodies it and who can wonderfully portray the appearance of the prosecutor as a man who, above all, has sought justice and which is applied within the democratic system, as it should be in a rule of law. The interpreter wastes his talent once again, it’s nice to see Darín on the screen, with a role that seems written for him. There was no better face than Darín’s to be Strassera. Alongside that great acting titan that is Darín, is Peter Lanzani, who continues to show how far his fame as a teenage idol has gone. Since starring in “El clan”, the young actor has grown up with increasingly extreme roles. Undoubtedly, he goes by note to compete with Darín himself.

‘Argentina, 1985’ is Santiago Miter’s consecration as a prestigious director. A film that knows how to carry out the classic schemes of judicial and historical cinema, with the addition of its own perspective of the author. If ‘The student’ was his degree in directing, ‘Argentina, 1985’ is his doctorate. A sublime title, which can be seen face to face with ‘Winners or losers? (The Nuremberg Trials) ‘, by Stanley Kramerand who, without a doubt, is a clear candidate for the awards season that has just begun.

Note: 8

The best: The speech that Ricardo Darín gives in the trial before the day of the verdict. A real acting lesson.

Worse: Given the riskiness of Miter’s gaze in “Paulina” or “El Estudiante”, it would have been appreciated if he had come out of the classic corset of historical and judicial cinema.