Tiempo de revancha

What is the cost of silence? It's a question faced by anyone who remains quiet out of fear. It's also a subject familiar to millions who lived in Argentina and said nothing as the country's armed forces killed as many as 30,000 people during the "Dirty War" from 1976 and 1983.

"Time for Revenge" explores the cost of silence but with an odd twist. In this story, saying nothing is also a way to escape a leftist past and earn a badly needed paycheck, even if it means getting along with a corrupt and dangerous company. Eventually, however, silence becomes a form of rebellion that leads to a final – and disturbing – act of defiance.

Federico Luppi plays an engineer with a history of trade union leadership that has made him unemployable. Details about the character's political past remain murky. All that is clear is that he wants to leave politics behind.

Using fraudulent references to hide his past, Luppi obtains a job as a demolition expert at a remote copper mine run by a large corporation headquartered in Buenos Aires. The work is risky, doubly so because the company cuts corners on safety that soon lead to two deaths.

Because of that tragedy, Luppi agrees to a plan proposed by an old coworker from his union days who has also ended up at the mine. They will stage an accident, claim the experience has left them mute, and demand a settlement that will allow them to never work again.

After the "accident", Luppi presses forward with the scheme, insisting to everybody – his wife, children and friends – that he can't speak. To avoid paying up, the corporation and its managers use violent trick they can, including many of those employed by the military during the "Dirty War."

Luppi is excellent as the engineer, especially considering that he stops speaking midway through the movie. Director Aldolfo Aristarain in his first film does a good job moving the story along, filling the movie with subtle touches, and showing life in very different worlds, from downtown Buenos Aires to the backwaters of Patagonia. Strongly recommended.

8/10

It's always a risk reviewing films you enjoyed very much years ago. Sometimes you are left wondering how could you enjoy so much such a terrible picture. This is not one of those. Reviewed recently, it still holds very well. Aristarain films a loser, an extremely clever man forced to flee his city and take a job far away for his union activism who challenges the system and gets away with it facing very powerful people. The scam, devised by a fellow worker, involves getting a compensation for the injuries caused by a labour accident, faked. The main character faces a corrupt system, very powerful enemies and yet wins. One of those inspiring "victory of the underdog" stories. Luppi excels at his role, a man challenged who puts on the table everything he is, his family, his life, without even blinking, and triumphs. Shot in an efficient and expressive way by master Aristarain, it really delivers a morale. I wonder why the Argentinian filmmakers are so good at portraying their country within the conventions of genre films.

This movie is considered to be one of the best in Argentinean cinema. And for reasons. The only problem is in that it's hard to be valued properly if watching outside of the historical context. Otherwise, you risk to find yourself under the wig of military censors (the movie saw the light at the pinnacle of the last dictatorship), who never were able to understand what the film was about. And fortunately, did not forbid it. Although, the hints at dreadful times when the movie was made, are supposed to be noticed by a blind, with the horrible last film's frame not only destroying watchers, but also being a loud and clear slap in junta's face.

Artistically it's impeccable. Aristarain is considered to be a master of making interesting stories out of boring topics. This time it's a thriller born out of neglecting the safety rules in a copper pit. The music of wonderful Emilio Cauderer makes the movie sound hitchcockishly suspensive. Leaves no doubts as to the necessity to watch all Aristarain's works.

This movie is like some short stories that seems to be written from the end to the beginning. A whole movie that has one reason to be: a fraction of a second, a short instant that closes everything and does it wonderfully right. Don't miss it.