Cautiva

Another story about the disappeared Argentinians, during the military regime in 70s Executed, others forced to leave their country,and many children left behind,to be adopted by couples close to the regime... A close look to real lives and tragedies

A dazzling directorial debut that is set in 1994 Argentina, but goes back to the early 80's when thousands of political dissidents were "disappeared". A fifteen year-old girl is plucked out of class one day at the summons of a judge, who tells her that the couple she takes to be her parents had in fact adopted her. Her biological parents were young architects who had been "disappeared" for criticizing the political regime of the time. The judge directs her to live with her biological grandmother and new family. Feeling she can no longer trust anybody, she begins, for her peace of mind, an investigation of her own. Played with an extraordinary gravity by the luminous Barbara Lombardo, the young girl meets others like herself and arrives at shocking truths, which it would be wrong to reveal here. Given the documentary aspects of the film (it addresses an ongoing unresolved situation, where thousands of young adults, born during this tumultuous period of Argentine history, continue to search for their birth parents), it goes beyond being just a political thriller. Despite being, at times, unevenly paced (this is, after all, a directorial first-attempt), it is a splendid examination of relationships and the doggedness and resilience of the human spirit.

In English, when we say, "He was DISAPPEARED", we are using a term that came into English from Spanish. Over the past decades, countless thousands have suffered this fate in many South and Central American countries.

CAUTIVA offers us a genuinely fresh take on this truly somber subject. We see the problem from the perspective of a teenage girl, Cristina Quadri, who one day, without the slightest warning, is yanked out of her class at school and taken to the office of a federal judge. He then proceeds to unravel her world by informing her that her real name is Sofia Lombardi and that her parents were "disappeared" by the dictatorship in power at the time of her birth in 1978.

Furthermore, the people who she has called Mom & Dad her whole life, are, in reality, her abductors! At first, she is completely incredulous. In a most demanding role, Barbara Lombardo delivers an extremely intense and nuanced performance that is nothing short of awesome. To watch her...as she very gradually, step by step, comes to terms with the stark and utter tragedy of her reality, is something very few actors could have done so convincingly!

Cautiva leaves us contemplating just how profoundly life altering the truth can be. The film, of course, is in Spanish, and as to the quality or the accuracy of the subtitles, I'm sorry, but I didn't read them, so I can't give an opinion in relation to that importabt factor.

ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA! 9*********

CAUTIVA ('Captive') is a very effective film by young writer/director Gaston Biraben who has taken to task the impact of Argentina's 'Dirty War' of the late 1970s and succeeds in making a very personal story out of the horror of the 'desaparecidos' tragedy that stole from Argentina some of its brightest minds - and 'reassigned' the children of these 'disappeared ones' who were born in the prisons to political friends of the dictatorship. While the concept is gruesome as history and as content, Biraben manages to recreate that terrifying period of time in terms of the present. This retrospective study makes a huge impact.

Cristina Quadri (the deeply impressive Bárbara Lombardo) lives with her parents in Buenos Aires, attending a Catholic girls' school, seemingly a happy young teenager. One regular day she is called to the principal's office and told she must visit a judge, a frightening concept for a young girl who is forced to go without informing her parents. The judge informs her that she is not 'Cristina Quadri' but instead 'Sofía Lombardi', the daughter of a couple who 'disappeared' in 1978 as political prisoners. A recent blood test Cristina/Sofia thought was a follow-up for a post-op check was actually a test to match her blood with that of the newly discovered true parents' family. Cristina, stunned by her lack of true identity, confronts her 'adopted parents' and struggles with the officials who insist she be returned to her blood relatives. Cristina becomes close to another 'adopted' girl and the two explore their roots, finding that they were born in prisons and then given to police officials to be placed in homes. The transition from adopted to blood family is the path the film explores: despite the comforts of present life the girls must know their origins to fully realize their identities.

The cast is uniformly strong, the concept of the film works well as Biraben snaps us back and forth between the World Cup Soccer Game in Buenos Aires in 1978 that contrasts so gravely with the concurrent underground disappearance of the intellects of the country, and the performance by Lombardo holds the credibility of the story well. There is a fine music score by José Luis Castiñeira de Dios that combines a suite for cello and piano with elements from Mozart's Requiem very effectively. This film has been awarded many prizes since its appearance in 2003: the prizes are justly deserved. Highly recommended viewing. Grady Harp

We take our heritage for granted. But, what is we are slapped in the face and told that the "parents" we have known for 15 years were not real, and our real parents were "disappeared" by a dictatorial regime? Of course, the film reminds us of the shame of our complicity in these regimes by showing Henry Kissinger snuggling up to the dictators.

Bárbara Lombardo (The Motorcycle Diaries) in her first feature film, captivates us as the teen faced with this harsh reality in Argentina. The pain she feels is obvious and she is torn from the only family she has ever known and learns to live with strangers, who are, in fact, her real relatives.

Television actress, Mercedes Funes, also was great as her new friend, who parents were also "disappeared." A really oustanding film by Gaston Biraben; a shameful part of Argentine and US history that cries out for justice that will never come.