Invasión

Hugo Santiago Muchnick may be the best-kept secret of Argentinean cinema. It is true that his Argentine filmography is minimal, for he, as Frenchified as he was, ended up self-exiled in Paris and almost his whole work was made in Europe. But there is no doubt that he was a great talent, a true avant-garde artist, even if the label today sounds too outworn. Hugo Santiago is an island in Argentinean cinema, if only for his first feature, the masterful «Invasión».

It is true that writers Adolfo Bioy Casares («La invención de Morel») and Jorge Luis Borges («El aleph») contributed to this and a few others of Santiago's films. It is obvious that their concepts and ideas about art influenced the final works. However, when you see a few frames of «Invasión» you know that you are watching the work of a man of cinema rather than a man of letters. Santiago was a man of moving images and autonomous sounds, who induces us into a fascinating fantasy of revolutionary romanticism, its decadence and reemergence as the Phoenix.

Released in 1969 in the old Teatro Central in the city of Panamá, «Invasión» took us all by surprise. So much so that, until yesterday, when I saw it again, I realized that it had been buried in my memory as something exceptional, but that it also made me unable to evoke it or tell its plot, as maybe Santiago, Borges, Bioy Casares and all the others involved in the movie wanted us to end, under the spell of an old fashioned left-wing cell that executed its plans in secrecy and eliminated all vestiges. Maybe it was because of its detachment as an aesthetic proposal, its innovative narrative or its challenge to realism. Back then, the movie was warmly received at the International Film Festival of Panama. I remember with humor that we arranged an interview with the leading actress Olga Zubarry and, when we were in front of her, we could not say a word! That is how dazzled we were.

First part of an unfinished trilogy about the fictitious city of Aquilea, «Invasión» tells us about the activity of several units of the Aquilean Resistance, although it is not clear who or what they are resisting. All we are told is that such actions are necessary before a possible invasion by unidentified forces. Herrera (Lautaro Murúa) receives orders from the leader of the resistance, Don Porfirio (Juan Carlos Paz), while Irene (Zubarry), Herrera's wife, takes part in actions of the Aquileia youth force, who may or may not be allies of the invaders. As a synthesis of the plot, this synopsis does not give you a complete panorama of the visual and aural effect of the film. You have to see it to perceive its privileged place in the history of Argentinean cinema, beyond the well-known merits of «Dios de lo pague», «El exilio de Gardel (Tangos)», «El aura» or «Relatos salvajes». It does not surprise me at all to read that several critics claim that this is the best Argentinean film of all time.

Before making his first work, Hugo Santiago was Robert Bresson's assistant for seven years, during which he witnessed the emergence of new cinemas in France, Italy, the UK, Poland and Czechoslovakia. In those years, the filmmaker watched the works of the great masters of the time, so it is not strange to see the influence of Antonioni's «Eclisse», Godard's «Alphaville» or Wajda's «Popiól i diament». In Santiago's film there are also echoes of classic Russian literature and even elements from the James Bond series, with fast persecutions and characters' heroic postures. Santiago did not follow the Bressonian practice of using actors as models, but allowed the cast to make true creations of tragic beings, trapped in an oppressive political plot.

Today, 50 years after its creation, what I find more fascinating is the three writers' visionary perception. «Invasión» presciently anticipated what would happen in Argentina during the years of military dictatorship, when terror emerged at home. Here the invaders are equal to the Aquileans, so the worst enemies of the community are people who come from the same community. They may belong to a different social class, have other phenotypes and faces, use different brands of cars or clothes, but in the end they are just the same breed. The traitors to the collective longings are "from home". We also see how (in 1969) the authors described the way the "invaders" tortured the resistance with cattle prod and beat people in stadiums, as it would happen years later.

In statements made to the press, co-author Bioy Casares drew a parallel between Aquileia and Troy, as a city corroded from inside. a city that devoured its children. However, in the resolution of the work, there is hope and a change of forces is promptly executed, in an eternal return to the starting point of the search for truth, as Argentina has been forced to do so many times.

Photographed in black and white with the usual skill and art of another exile, maestro Ricardo Aronovich («Providence», »Le souffle au coeur», »Le bal», «Missing»), the soundtrack is also a unique factor: at the beginning, when listening to steps to the fore and dubbed dialogues in a soundtrack entirely created a posteriori, I said to myself, "What is this? What happened to the sound effects editor?" As the film progressed, I realized that it is the strategy of the composer and sound designer, Edgardo Cantón, in a time when the term "sound design" was not heard of. In addition to precise musical commentaries (and a very good musical number, «Milonga de Manuel Flores», composed by Aníbal Troilo with lyrics by Borges), Cantón made a dense sound string of voices, dialogues and premonitory squawks, overwhelming screams, machinery and crawling feet following one another, sometimes in a completely autonomous fashion, divorced from the image. All the elements were combined in an effective and forceful way until the end.

The experience of «Invasión» was not an isolated postmodern incursion without continuity: on the contrary, Hugo Santiago made several feature films in France, like «Les autres» (1974), co-written with Borges and Bioy Casares; «Écoute voir...» (1979) with Catherine Deneuve; a number of «audiovisual objects», as he himself called a series of works on art and its creators' biographies. Of the planned trilogy, Santiago could only complete «Les trottoirs de Saturne» (1986), with a script by Argentinian writer Juan José Saer, in which a musician from Aquilea is exiled in Paris. By 2009 he had the script for the final entry, «Adiós», written in solitary, but the project was postponed in favor of other projects and in the end Santiago could not make it, as he died on February 27, 2018.

a day after i saw invasion (at tiff) i had already come to take it for granted as a part of the essential canon of 60's film. though the affinities with some new wave and related trends of the period (godard, antonioni, resnais) have been noted- and i would certainly add bunuel to that list- hugo santiago's film adds something decisively different to the mix, something you maybe always unconsciously felt belonged there but wasn't really represented by any particular film or "auteur". unfortunately the original negatives were seized (and presumably destroyed) by the military in the early 70's, and the restored print is variable in quality with shoddy french subtitles over which the English titles are projected in real time. this resulted in many mistakes which threatened to render the story even more mysterious than it was intended to be! someone badly needs to do a new restoration on this one! regardless, invasion is, especially when taken in context (1969!) a remarkable achievement in every way. superb, velvety black-and-white cinematography, fabulous location shooting, brilliant performances, and all that, combined with a meaningful, prescient story of the "inevitable, irresistible invasion" which was shortly to overtake argentina and subsequently all of us... the brutally inhuman men in suits...! the protagonist herrera (lautaro murua) is the quintessential borgesian knife-fighter reconfigured as a gun-toting ruthless thug defending civilization-as-we-know it from the "invaders"... the counter-revolution, as is made clear in the film, remains well below the the radar of the everyday football-obsessed citizen... superb, and more timely than ever!!!

Jorge Luis Borges was a great writer. Adolfo Bioy Casares was a good writer with infrequent flashes of very good. Occasionally, they wrote together. Curiously, the quality of their joint work always sank lower than the quality of each writer's output; they seemed to cause each other to lower their standards. The story for this movie is an example. It narrates the resistance of a small group against an invasion and takeover of an imaginary country in an abstract, bloodless and totally unrealistic fashion. The dialog has been written by Borges and the director Hugo Santiago. The lines are frequently stilted and literary; a great writer is not necessarily a good screenwriter. The actor's delivery of the dialog tends to the monotonic. The direction is uneven; the movie proceeds briskly at times, but it has very slow stretches. Action scenes are not very believable.

What makes this film watchable is the extraordinary black and white cinematography by Ricardo Aronovich; in spite of its virtuosity it never interferes with the action. After a brilliant career in Argentina Aronovich moved to Europe where he became one of the best cinematographers in the world.

The subject of this film (and some scenes) caught the attention of the military dictatorship that took power in Argentina in 1976. Parts of the original negative were destroyed. The version we watch now is made from the surviving negative and positive copies.

This is great. Full of tension with a sort of po faced over seriousness. Lovely editing and angles. The city looks dour and wonderful.

Haven't a clue what's going on but it's very important and complicated. The working day in nice black and whites. Stylish and urgent. Other reviews here have pointed out that it also, in many ways, anticipates real events in Argentina which I missed of course. Nice film.

We're in Aquileia, Argentina in 1957 for this most unusual drama. It's dark, tense, moody and black and white of course. Very cloak and dagger. Quite subjective. A shipment has arrived at the port, border guards are shot as its smuggled into the city on a truck. Don Porfirio (Juan Carlos Paz) makes a phone call. Herrera (Lautaro Murúa) has a pocket full of bullets. Irene (Olga Zubarry) picks up a mysterious package. Everyone is getting ready. They're awaiting an Invasion. Maybe it's the lack of colour, maybe the language I don't speak, maybe the henchmen in dark suites, but it's gripping stuff. Herrera is confident. A leader, full of cold stares and carefully chosen words. To be honest there's a lot of cold stares. Time is taken, very little rashness, this is serious... although I'm not quite clear what everyone is being serious about. Herrera gets accosted by a gang of men in light trench coats and before long, shots are fired and cars are chased with some lovely camera work. Herrera is supposed to intercept the truck, whilst Porfirio orchestrates things from his flock wallpapered apartment with his faithful black cat. It's a stylish thriller full of romantic swagger and venomous cool. Clearly shot silent, with added foley sound, it has a sparse energy to it which gets quite unnerving, but it adds nicely to the tension. There's a pretty large cast, but because of its thoughtful pace, it's easy to follow and appreciate. It's clear who the main players are. Like Irene and Herrera who seem to be an item, but also appear to be on opposite sides. Sides of a political feud, territory, sovereignty, I don't think it matters. It's all about the battle of two opposing parties, determined to undermine and defeat the other. Clearly one good clinging to freedom, one bad hellbent on control. We're only ever really shown one side, clear where our allegiances are intended to lie. So when Herrera finds himself interrogated by the other side, it makes what's already a fantastic scene all the more magnificent. It's remarkably easy to watch, despite being pretty brutal with a fair amount of bloodshed on both sides. The sound, although added, is marvellous. The cinematography, acting, edit are all outstanding. Not to mention the action, that as the film goes on, becomes relentless. Our cast dwindling, paying the price of their convictions, until Herrera finds himself faced with an inevitable reality. Tiny details aren't really important, it's the atmosphere created that makes this so good. Director Hugo Santiago seems to have an interesting story, fleeing Argentina to Paris in the aftermath of a coup that eerily took place a decade after Invasión. His filmography is sparse, but I'm inclined to dig deeper on the strength of this.