Venice

Imagining Argentina

 (U.K-Spain)

By DAVID STRATTON

A Myriad Pictures (London)/Arenas Entertainment (Madrid) presentation of an Imagining Argentina Prods. production, in association with Multivideo, Tide Rock Entertainment, Mike's Movies, Green Moon Prods. (International sales: Myriad Pictures, London.) Produced by Geoffrey C. Lands, Michael Peyser, Diane Sillan Isaacs, Santiago Pozo. Executive producer, Kirk D'Amico. Co-executive producer, Lucas Foster. Directed, written by Christopher Hampton, based on the novel by Lawrence Thornton.
 
Carlos Rueda - Antonio Banderas
Cecilia Rueda - Emma Thompson
Silvio Ayala - Ruben Blades
Esmerala Palomares - Maria Canals
Teresa Rueda - Leticia Dolera
Gustavo Santos - Kuno Becker
Amos Sternberg - John Wood
Mrs. Sternberg - Claire Bloom
 

Though undoubtedly made with good intentions, "Imagining Argentina" fails on almost every level. Christopher Hampton's adaptation of Lawrence Thornton's novel attempts to find some reason for optimism in the tragedy of Argentina in the mid-1970s, when tens of thousands of people disappeared during the military dictatorship, but the film only succeeds in trivializing this shameful era. Unconvincing and superficial, the film faces a very rocky commercial future.

The theme of the film is noble: The one thing an evil dictatorship cannot destroy is the imagination of the people. But the way this theme is handled here is banal. It's sad to see a filmmaker of Hampton's talent falling into the traps inherent in a plot which combines stark realism with flights of unbelievable fantasy.

The film begins with newsreel footage from the '70s, with a voiceover explaining that, after the dictatorship fell in 1983, Argentineans were told "never to look back. But it is our sacred duty to look back."

At this point, the film promises to be another "Missing," the powerful 1983 Costa-Gavras film in which Jack Lemmon played a father whose son disappears in Chile at the time of the overthrow of the elected government by another military dictatorship; but the realism and passion that made the earlier film so effective are missing here.

In 1976, Carlos Rueda (Antonio Banderas), director of a theater for children, and his wife, Cecilia (Emma Thompson), a journalist, live with their bright, pretty teenage daughter, Teresa (Leticia Dolera) in tranquility despite Cecilia's increasing concerns at the heavy-handed actions of the far-right military government.

Despite her husband's misgivings, Cecilia writes a story about schoolchildren who disappeared after protesting against increased bus fares. Soon after, she is abducted by three armed men.

Until this point, the film has succeeded in creating an atmosphere of repression and tension. But then a plot twist sends the picinto a far more superficial area, with devastating results.

Carlos suddenly realizes he possesses a mysterious gift. If he is in close contact with a relative or friend of a missing person, he is able to visualize the fate of that person. No explanation is given for this miraculous second-sight, but, with it, Carlos is able to see, vividly, Cecilia's attempt to escape her prison and her recapture.

Armed with this knowledge, he manages to locate the prison, a warehouse by the docks, and blunders in without any weapon, but Cecilia already has been moved to a facility in the countryside.

When the authorities discover Carlos holds regular meetings in his garden of the families of the disappeared, they send a spy (Kuno Becker), but Carlos easily exposes him. In a further, devastating blow, Teresa is then kidnapped.

By this time, the viewer ought to be profoundly moved, but since the film has provided virtually no basis for reality, it's difficult, indeed, to identify with Carlos and his plight. His behavior seems borderline idiotic as he drives around in his easily identifiable red auto, searching for his family's kidnappers.

A bearded Banderas is unable to bring his character to life. Thompson is more effective as the imprisoned and degraded journalist, but she, too, has to cope with a role that is ultimately difficult to accept. Dolera gives a poignant performance as the couple's daughter.

John Wood and Claire Bloom appear briefly as a Jewish couple who live in isolation on the pampas; they seem to be there only to remind the viewer of past atrocities (they both survived Auschwitz), but their roles, too, fail to work because they, too, are symbolic, not flesh and blood, characters.

It's sad to see a film which, despite fine work in the various craft departments, fails to succeed on the most basic level.

Camera (De Luxe color), Guillermo Navarro; editor, George Akers; music, George Fenton; production designer, Barbara Perez Solero; costume designer, Sabina Daigeler; sound (Dolby Digital surround), Dennis McTaggart; casting, Janey Fothergill. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (Venice 60, competing), Aug. 31, 2003. Running time: 107 MIN.