Chronicle of an Escape

an Argentinian page of history. new piece from Pinochet regime. admirable performances. inspired script. and a story of survive. result - a remarkable film. but, more important, a realistic fresco of the XX century. because it is a film about dictatorship. about the brutal power for intimidate and control and see the other only as tool of own interest. and this is the motif for who "Chronicle of an Escape" is a great movie. for the fascinating way to describe the essence of human resistance. for the manner to suggest the heart of every dictatorship. for the wise science to remind - do not ignore the legacy of the last century. this is all. and the basic point for a real useful lesson of history.

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.

Yes, this time we can be sure. This movie will bring home the first award since "la historia Oficial". But the great thing about this movie is that it does not need any award to prove how great it is. When you have some great performances, specially from the best south-American actor of his generation, Rodrigo de la Serna (Diarios de Motocicleta), and a director who has achieved his most mature work, and all of this to tell a story so sad, deep, breathtaking and energetic, you can't go wrong. I was lucky enough as to see this film on a preview, so this is the first vote it receives at the IMDb. But believe me, this movie has future of top 250. Not that it needs it, anyway. Finally, if you are from Argentina, and you think that we have had enough with this type of stories, think of all the missing tales similar to this one, that we'll never know of. They are at least 30.000. So we need to continue filming and writing about the seventies, until one day we'll be able to say. "This won't happen again"

In 1977, the goalkeeper of the Almagro team Claudio Tamburrini (Rodrigo de la Serna) is illegally kidnapped from his home, arrested by the government forces and sent blindfolded to Sere Mansion, a clandestine detention center. His acquaintance Tano (Martín Urruty), who had been tortured for a long period, had falsely accused Claudio of being a revolutionary. Along the months, Claudio is kept nude and handcuffed together with the prisoners El Gallego (Lautaro Delgado), El Vasco (Matías Marmorato) and Guillermo Fernández (Nazareno Casero) and submitted to all sort of humiliations and tortures, until the night they decide to escape from their imprisonment in the old mansion.

The dramatic "Crónica de una Fuga" is a true recollection of a dark period of dictatorship in South America sponsored by USA to fight the communism, more specifically in Argentina. The story is very well acted but limited to the situation of Claudio and the other three prisoners in the Sere Mansion and their escape. However it omits, for example, that Tano and the other prisoners have been certainly dropped airborne from an Air Force airplane (the Jeep indicates Air Force Argentine, and this was a common practice in the dictatorship period). My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Crônica de uma Fuga" ("Chronicle of an Escape")

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.