NACLA By Humberto J. Rocha
In 2016, I interviewed 26 members of the Argentine armed forces who were in active duty during the country’s last military dictatorship, some of whom were under house arrest. After three months of reporting, I couldn’t help but feel that I was being followed. Conducting interviews from the Naval Center social club to middle and upper-class homes scattered across Buenos Aires, I was plagued by the nagging sensation that I was being watched.
This sense of unease is captured throughout key scenes of Argentina 1985, a film about the onus placed upon real-life state prosecutor Julio Cesar Strassera (played by Ricardo Darín) and his team to hold the military’s top brass accountable in post-dictatorship Argentina. A nominee for the Academy Award’s Best International Feature Film category this year, director and screenwriter Santiago Mitre’s latest movie succinctly encapsulates the over-the-shoulder wariness of Argentina’s transition to democracy after 1983, bringing an end to one of the darkest periods in the country’s history. Mitre’s night scenes are reminiscent of Edward Hopper paintings with a tinge of film noir, but—importantly—not without a sense of humor, as we follow the story of how a democratically elected government, a tenacious prosecutorial team, and survivors of the dictatorship pursued justice against the country’s supposed defenders.
The feeling of apprehension can be felt, for example, when Strassera’s fellow prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo (played by Juan Pedro Lanzani), hurriedly leaves a social event where there is a heavy military presence. The camera follows him through the streets of Buenos Aires as he repeatedly looks over his shoulder and realizes he is being followed by his own security detail on foot and in a black car. “Need a ride, prosecutor?” a man hisses from a passing car. Ominous phone calls, unattended suitcases in the courtroom, and car bombs by the Casa Rosada are scattered throughout the film, keeping the audience on edge…
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