FILM 2: La historia oficial / The Official Story, dir. Luis Puenzo, 1985 (KANOPY)

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https://www.kanopy.com/en/washington/video/5724028 Links to an external site.

La historia oficial / The Official Story (Argentina, 1985)

Dir. Luis Puenzo (b. 1946)

Screenplay by Aída Bortnik and Luis Puenzo

DVD Port Washington, NY:Koch Lorber Films, 2004, 112 min.

Plot Summary:

High school history teacher Alicia Marnet de Ibañez is happily married to successful businessman Roberto and they have a five-year-old adopted daughter named Gaby. Alicia is blissfully ignorant about what happened in the military coup until a fellow teacher challenges her and an old friend reappears from exile. She sets out to find out who her daughter’s birth parents were, to her husband’s great displeasure.

Cast:

Norma Aleandro           Alicia

Hector Alterio              Roberto

Patricio Contreras        Benítez

Chunchuna Villafaña    Ana

Chela Ruiz                    Sara

Questions:

  1. Comment on the hierarchy and interactions between Alicia and her high-school history students. How does it differ from what you experienced in U.S. high school? How does the students’ approach to written history differ from Alicia’s and why? How does this relate to the title of the film?
  2. How does Benítez’s relationship with the students differ from Alicia’s and what does this suggest about his political attitudes?
  3. How do Alicia and Benitez react to the demonstration by the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo?
  4. How is the family unit formed by Alicia, Roberto and Gaby initially portrayed?
  5. Why doesn’t Alicia know who Gaby’s birth parents were? Does this strike you as peculiar?
  6. Describe the reunion between Alicia and her old friend Ana. Where has Ana been and why is Alicia oblivious to her situation? Analyze the way that this pivotal scene is shot.
  7. At what point does Alicia shut Ana down in their heart-to-heart conversation?
  8. What sort of relationship does Roberto have with his parents and brother? What have been the sources of conflict among them? Can they be seen as allegorical of Argentine society in the 1970s?

9, Comment on Roberto’s relationship with his business colleagues. What is the significance of their national origins?

  1. What incidents begin to create doubt in Alicia’s mind about who Gaby’s birth parents were and how she became available for adoption?      
  1. Analyze the developing relationship between Alicia and Sara. What does their interaction tell us about relations between the upper middle class and the working class in 1970s Argentina?
  2. What indications are there that Alicia’s search for Gaby’s origins is creating a rift between her and Roberto?
  3. What is the significance of the scene in which Alicia sees a colleague being whisked away into an office at Roberto’s workplace?
  4. Analyze the final confrontation between Alicia and Roberto. Is Roberto ultimately portrayed as a villain? Explain.
  5. If Gaby is returned to her birth family, how do you think this might affect her? How about if she isn’t returned?
  6. Comment on the meaning of the nursery rhyme that Gaby sings at the end and on the implications of this final shot of her alone.
  7. How does the rest of the music contribute to the emotional impact of this film?
  8. Would you consider this film a melodrama? Explain.
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