La historia oficial Review
Director
- Luis Puenzo
Main Cast
- Alicia, played by Norma Aleandro
- Gaby, played by Analfa Castro
- Roberto, played by Héctor Alterio
- Benítez, played by Patricio Contreras
- Ana, played by Chunchuna Villafane
- Macchi, played by Jorge Petraglia
- Father Ismael, played by Leal Rey
- Enrique, played by Hugo Arana
- Sara, played by Chela Ruiz
Paper instructions
During the military dictatorship in Argentina, women disappeared by the regime who birthed children in detention had their babies stolen. Elite families adopted them without asking questions. The truth went against the official story. This film came out in 1984, very soon after the end of the Argentine dictatorship and was an early attempt at processing the traumatic realities of the regime. As such, this film connects with Weeks 12-14 in the semester.
Your assignment is to write a critical review of La historia oficial that evaluates the film in the context of our semester. In order to do this, you will need to draw on the assigned readings from class. You must use the two readings assigned from class. (No outside readings, though. Let’s keep it focused on the resources we’ve used in class.) There are also readings specific to this film on Canvas. Each paper should include a short overview of the plot, the important characters, and a discussion of the historical themes that they embody. Then, with reference to the readings, evaluate the historic merits of the film. Analyze the readings in the context of the film, and the film in the context of the readings.
It is up to you which historical themes you decide to emphasize from the theme, but you must be able to connect them to specifics in either the primary or secondary readings at your disposal.
Please note that this paper is to be entirely your own work. You may not use internet resources or other outside readings. Stick to the readings that have been assigned in class. Whenever you use ideas from those readings, whether explicitly or not, you must cite them in footnotes. Citations should conform to Turabian style. A guide to Turabian style citations is available here. We will be keeping up with reviews of the film available online. The one exception to outside-class resources available for writing this paper is the film’s page on the Internet Movie Database, which you may only use to keep track of and c