Imagining Argentina

Based on the novel by Lawrence Thornton, Imagining Argentina loosely stems from the gut-wrenching time when the beloved country was under a corrupt dictatorship of General Videla. During his regime in the 70's and early 80's, thousands of people mysteriously disappeared. Eventually, it was discovered that they were kidnapped and tortured for speaking out against the government.

Known for his Academy Award-winning screenplay for "Dangerous Liaisons," Christopher Hampton takes the reigns as director and attempts to illustrate this period of time through the eyes of children's theatre director, Carlos Rueda (Antonio Banderas). When he learns that his journalist wife, Cecilia (Emma Thompson) has "disappeared," he immediately senses that the government has something to do with it. Upon his gut reaction, Carlos develops a unique clairvoyance that helps him see other victims. Even so, he lacks the ability to hold a vision of his missing wife.

Throughout the film, there is a horrific portrayal of this unfortunate era. The appalling scenes of rape and torture are very hard to watch, but they speak a certain amount of truth that supports the film's primary focal point of political repression. As for the performances, there are good and bnd representations that cancel each other out. Although her accent does take a while to get used to, Emma Thompson delivers another remarkable performance as an imprisoned Argentinean woman that is trying to find her way back to her husband. Her representation of hope and perseverance carries the film with compelling defiance. With Banderas, he holds a strong amount of passion that is the fervent in the earlier parts of the film. However, as the story begins to reach its end, we tend to be more concerned with Thompson's Cecilia rather than his inconsistent portrayal of Carlos.

It takes a huge amount of boldness to tackle such a sensitive, yet overlooked, subject. The clairvoyant premonitions and the unique flashbacks are very intriguing and they add great visual texture to the story. In a broad scope, "Imagining Argentina" clutches on to its confidence with no apology, but its strength seems to drain in the end. The resolution of the film may seem like it was haphazardly thrown together, but viewers will be too emotionally exhausted to notice.