Crónica de una fuga

"Crónica de una Fuga" is not only an objective journey through Argentina's shady past, but also an engaging thriller that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Uruguayan director Adrian Caetano, proves himself to be on of the leading filmmakers among the flourishing Argentinean film industry. The director of "Bolivia" and "Un Oso Rojo" is very precise when it comes to dialogues, and has an ability to acknowledge violence only by showing its imminence -the most powerful and cruel moments are achieved by creating a meticulous balance with the sound fields-.

It is also worth mentioning Rodrigo de la Serna's performance, who after working opposite to Gael Garcia Bernal in "Motorcycle Diaries" managed to establish himself as one of the most talented Latin American actor of his generation.

Set to be released around Jan. 2007, "Cronica" is an insightful thriller that should not be missed.

This Argentinian movie set in the 1970s presents the real life story of four prisoners who manage a successful escape from their military junta captors during the Dirty War era in Argentina. The Dirty War era was a dark and infamous period in the history of Argentina when the right wing military government was responsible for the disappearance of several thousands - some estimates put the number at about 30,000 - of Argentinians on the pretext that they were suspected left wing terrorists.

This movie retells the real life story of Claudio Tamburrini and three of his fellow prisoners who manage to escape from a secret detention center. Claudio is a goalkeeper in a minor league soccer team and is abducted by the military secret police who suspect him to be a leftist terrorist. Their suspicion is merely based on the questionable testimony of another captive and they swoop down on an unsuspecting Claudio at his residence. Before Claudio could even grapple with the happenings, he is whisked away to a desolate detention center in a suburb where he is held as a blindfolded captive for several months along with others without any due process. The captives are put through a daily rigour of sadistic violence and humiliation in the name of interrogation by their captors who tend to play dangerous mindgames with the hapless captives. This movie is based on the autobiographical account by Claudio with further inputs from his fellow escapee Guillermo who leads their audacious escape on a stormy night.

The focus in the movie is on the daily ordeals faced by the captives and the unflinching cruelty of the thugs of the junta who inflict unspeakable horrors on them. The movie has a dark and foreboding tone throughout to provide a realistic edge to the happenings with just tiny flecks of rooted situational humour and the final act of escape is set as a thriller, albeit, sans any heightened drama. However, the movie does not bother acquainting the viewers with the social context to the unfolding events. Perhaps, this is one reason why there is a sense of something amiss while watching the movie.

Nevertheless, this competently acted movie is successful in presenting a very real account of the chilling, visceral torture meted out to the captives without being overtly gruesome and has a gripping and taut narrative which keeps the viewer tense throughout.

Cronica de una Fuga deals with true events in the history of Argentina during the "dirty war" of the seventies. These events having to do with the government, make up a very dark period in the country's history and do not offer much more than sad memories. The movie concentrates on the personal experience of Claudio, who was apprehended by agents and placed in a house together with many more kidnapped men. Caetano, through the use of different cinematographic techniques, makes it clear that the men are seen as inferior and are treated horribly. However, the movie provides the audience with much hope as Claudio strives to survive and does not give up whatever the circumstances may be around him. Moreover, team work which the prisoners develop as they are kept in the house, speaks strongly for the need of people to come together when times get tough. The movie overall is a good one as it concentrates on a positive aspect in the middle of such a negative situation. It is tough to make a movie about this dark time period and have it be an uplifting story in the end.

I can't say I watched alot of Argentinian movies but this one is certainly worth a watch. Also because the movie is based on actual events, it made it even more captivating and interesting to watch. The seventies, it's actually not that long time ago, were not really good times in Argentina if you had the idea of criticizing the actual regime. The military dictatorship of that time was systematically eliminating dissidents to the regime. In this story, that is sometimes hard to watch, we witness the kidnapping and interrogations of some alleged 'Desaparecidos'. It was not a good time to have 'lefties' ideas. The acting was very good, as it looked all very real and disgusting. A good movie from Israel Adrián Caetano. I will look for more of his movies.

One of the aspects of this excellent film from Argentina is the disturbing fact that it is based on actual events. Director Israel Adrián Caetano (with Esteban Student and Julian Loyola) created the screenplay from the main character's memoir - 'Pase libre' by Claudio Tamburrini - and in doing so bring a sense of immediacy and unfiltered truth to this tale of the 1977 military dictatorship in Argentina during the time of the 'Desaparecidos' or terminal evacuation/elimination of dissidents to the regime.

CHRONICLE OF AN ESCAPE (Crónica de una fuga) relates the capture of soccer goalie Claudio Tamburrini (Rodrigo de la Serna, remembered for his magnetic portrayal of Alberto in 'The Motorcycle Diaries') during a soccer game in 1977 when he was abducted, blindfolded, and taken to a house of detention as a suspected revolutionary. Claudio is beaten, interrogated, starved, and forced to live nude, blindfolded and in handcuffs chained to his palette along with other detainees - Guillermo Fernández (Nazareno Casero), El Gallego (Lautaro Delgado), El Vasco (Matías Marmorato) and El Tano (Martín Urruty). Each of the detainees is repeatedly tortured and deprived of the 'necessities' of living until after four months the group decides to escape. The tension of their ingenious escape provides the film with a tense and riveting closure, and at the end of the film the destinies of each of the detainees is revealed.

Though the world knows some of the details of the military junta in Argentina that lasted from 1976 to 1985, observing the calamity in the form of real individuals who suffered pleads the case for understanding the atrocities better than simply reading media accounts. The manner in which Caetano directs his superb cast is enhanced by the extraordinary cinematography of Julián Apezteguía and the moody and creatively subtle musical score by Iván Wyszogrod. The cast is uniformly excellent: though the men who play the evil torturers have not been named in this review they are all very strong actors. This is a tough movie to watch and the audience should be aware that the prisoners appear in the nude throughout the film (if that is a problem for some viewers). In Spanish with English subtitles. Very strongly recommended, especially in this time when the concept of 'detainees' is so very much in the public eye once again! Grady Harp