Pre-departure Preparation: three Argentine Films

Because Argentina has a notable film industry (see lecture on Wednesday afternoon, June 11) and to help me learn more about the its culture, for the past few weeks I watched three Argentine films. Fuller descriptions can be found at www.imdb.com

The Official Story (1985). A wealthy woman is curious about the origins of her adopted daughter. In the quest to find answers she learns some unpleasant things about her country. Some scenes (I believe authentic) of the "Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo".

Nine Queens (2000). A rather light-heartened heist film. Moderately intriguing plots twists and double crosses. Most valuable as a view of city life and the streets of Buenos Aires.

La Ciénaga (2001). [English: The Swamp]. Three things to note about this extraordinary film:

• This film is filled with tension, but not in the way most mainstream U.S. films can be (chase scenes, loud soundtracks, fast editing). As far as real action goes, this film has very little. Therefore it's an interesting of example of what many people might consider as a "typical" foreign movie: slow, obscure, boring. Still, if you give it a chance it really pulls you in.
  
• Water plays a crucial symbolic role in the film: the dirty pool at the vacation home, the river where the children play, the brother-sister shower scene. (nothing overly sexual, but still the subtext is there), the conspicuously framed glass of water near the end of the film.
  
• The racism (toward indigenous peoples, or "Indians") exhibited by the vacationing bourgeois family that is passed off in such a matter-of-fact manner is is some of the most hateful speech I've ever witnessed in a movie. This depiction must say something about the state of class and race issues in Argentine society.