Dir.
Christopher Hampton, 2003, USA/Argentina/Spain/UK, 107 mins
Cast:
Antonio Banderas, Emma Thompson, Rubén Blades, Maria Canals
With an illustrious body of work as a screenwriter, including Dangerous Liasons that won him an Oscar, Christopher Hampton is relatively new to directing. Imagining Argentina is only his third feature. He fell in love with the award-winning novel by Lawrence Thornton the first time he read it, but it would be over ten years before he could realise his vision of the story on the screen. He has assembled an impressive international cast for this film dealing with the power of love and imagination in the face of cruel political aggression and terror.
Set in 1970's Buenos Aires, Imagining Argentina follows the traumatic and mystical journey of Carlos Rueda, a passionate director of a children's theatre played by a suitably hirsute Banderas. His wife Cecilia (Thompson) is a dedicated and controversial journalist writing outspoken articles about the regular and disturbing disappearances of citizens. She is soon kidnapped by the government herself, leaving Carlos and their daughter Teresa devastated and determined to find her. While comforting one of the children at the theatre whose father has been abducted, Carlos has a clairvoyant vision of what will happen to the boy's father. "It was like remembering the future", he says, and is shocked to find later that the events surrounding the boy's father are exactly as he predicted. He starts helping others, using his gift in a weekly séance at his house. He can foresee their loved ones' fates, but he is unable to focus on his wife, getting only frustrating snapshots that lead him on a dreamlike journey of discovery. The government soon learns of his power and starts viciously persecuting him and those close to him.
Based on true historical events, the brutal seizure of 30,000 people by the military junta, this film comes precariously close to belittling their suffering by using this as the backdrop for a love story in the genre of South American magical realism. To emphasize the historical reality of the period portrayed, the opening sequences use lots of archival newsreel footage. Unfortunately, when the look changes to clean, high-quality 35mm for the start of the film, the strong emotional weight that has been built up is replaced with an aesthetic more akin to television, soap opera even, a feel that never quite leaves. In other circumstances it may seem a flippant observation, but Banderas's beard is a simple and effective device that disarms and with his warm and sensitive portrayal separates this serious work from his cartoon like hero in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Thompson is brave in light of some very demanding scenes and gallantly strives with her accent, but Rubén Blades, playing Carlos's close, sceptical friend is most as ease here giving the strongest performance.
Imagining Argentina is an uncomfortable blend of history and fantasy with some extremely unpleasant moments that never feel quite justified. At times the premise that Carlos can see into the past and the future is contrived, working too conveniently for the plot and it is a struggle to suspend the disbelief essential to the story. Where this film works best, using all the usual tricks of camera, music, drama and timing, is in the pace and quality of the suspense. Here, in the most traditional of veins it succeeds.
Gavin Bush
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