Cheap The Official Story (DVD) (Héctor Alterio, Norma Aleandro) (Luis Puenzo) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of The Official Story

Just fabulous!
I am a Spanish teacher who talks about Argentina and the Dirty War and I use this film to perfectly illustrate how people were made to "disappear" and how power was abused, etc, and how the smallest of children became innocent victims. "The Official Story" does all of that and more. I also relate the film to the Holocaust, as these leaders may not have killed as many, but they used the same techniques. The movie is so well done.

---

A moving story, with subtlety, emotion, and truth.
The military juntas in Argentina had methods similar to those of Pinochet in Chile and Castro in Cuba. You will see in this movie how Argentine society wretched at the numerosity of the families suffering losses. You will see the "abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo," protesting in a way never seen before. But the uniqueness of this film lies in its portrayal of how an unlikely family finds that it, too, has fallen victim, in an unexpected way, in the wake of a secretly brutal regime.

The movie is poignant in another way: very subtlely, it portrays how an average man in the government, a husband who loves his wife and daughter dearly, is himself changed, profoundly, through his association with the government (a government willing to hurt its citizens in order to battle a threatening ideology). The slow, subtle build-up of a tension that must be resolved, and the crescendo in the final scenes, are moving. In the end, in its portrayal of a particular case (Argentina), this movie holds a mirror to human nature, showing us both the depths, as well as the heights, which men and women can reach.

This appears to be one of the best Argentine films made in the '80s. I think it shows that Argentine filmmaking is alive and well. If you like this movie, I would also recommend another Argentine film: Man Facing Southeast, a more reflective, philosophical movie, with a very subtle religious interrogative, probing the question of who we are as human beings.

---

Norma as Alicia
This actress is phenomenal in this role. She IS Alicia and her portrayal of coming to terms with Argentina's dirty war secrets is the most compelling acting I've seen in my life. She is simply remarkable and the film's power and emotion center on her flawless portrayal.
Some heart-wrenching moments:
When she gently unfolds her baby's cloth diaper, long saved in a box of momentos from her infancy, or when she snuggles up to little Gaby, holding tight to her child, the woman's agony becomes so real that you forget that you're watching a movie and your heart feels the pain of her situation.
I've seen this movie at least 10 times and I find myself still tearing up when Norma performs Alicia so masterfully.

An interesting symbol I've noticed in the film:
The opening and closing of doors.
----Alicia watching the doors swing back and forth while witnessing the birth of a child in the hospital
----Alicia seeing a door at Roberto's office suddenly close, to hide a criminal act in progress
----Roberto closing the door on her fingers, as if to keep her from passing through the door
----Alicia's departure, the silence leading up to the heavy close of the door, as we see her profile finally pass through.
(These are the examples that come to mind. I'm sure there are more)
In the context of Argentine history in the mid 1980's, the country itself was passing through a door to democracy.

(Un pasito para allí, que miedo que me da...) The music is a perfect thematic instrument in the film as well.

What a complex and aesthetic film this is!