Made in Argentina

During the last half century many Argentines had to leave their country for Europe or the US, on some cases for better working conditions, in others as a result of political persecution. Between 1976 and 1981 "political persecution" meant "at best" prison, at worst torture and assassination. The ones who could leave were lucky to have some sort of advance warning.

Transplanting oneself to a new country implies abandoning one's support system (friends and relatives) and creating another support system with new friends and no relatives (except for immediate family). There are also adaptation problems related to new language, new job, new mores. The problem is compounded when going back to one's country becomes possible; returning means another change of jobs (with possible diminution of salary and status), re-adaptation to one's native country (which has changed in the meantime), etc.

Unfortunately, this movie addresses the problem in an overly simplistic and melodramatic way. Good actors like Luis Brandoni and Leonor Manso are fed interminable speeches and dialogs loaded with soap opera clichés and the emigration experience is depicted as almost necessarily implying one's loss of identity. This subject deserves a more intelligent treatment.

The expression 'Made in Argentina" of the title has a somewhat ironic connotation; it means pride in a local product (or person, or idea) as opposed to something "made in the USA". The movie is based on the play "Made in Lanús", a sentence with similar meaning (Lanús is a working class suburb of Buenos Aires). Both the play and the movie have been very popular in Argentina.

It shows in a very touching way the fact of leaving a country for political reasons, raising kids outside the country their parents were raised and loved in a moment, now several years later they see what they missed, Buenos Aires...like the song shows "The sky isn´t the same in different places..."

Well I'm afraid I must disagree with the last comment on several points. For argument's sake, let's just point out two. To begin with, Made in Argentina in no comedy. It deals with such things as uprooting, yearning, longing and loss. No mature or experienced viewer may find anything funny about that. Then, this person talks about "civilized" countries. Apparently, they've missed the last two centuries of history or so. Enough said about that. Now for the movie. It is brilliantly crafted in every respect. The script is heart wrenching (if you hail from Argentina, that is) and the performances by both couples are masterful. I can hardly think of any other instance of Argentine cinema that appeals so directly and with such force to our innermost identity and history as a people. Definitely thumbs up!