A few years after the fall of the military dictatorship, the survivor Pablo Díaz brought to light one of the events that would end up leaving a mark in Argentine history. La Noche De Los Lápices is remembered by most as one of the most tragic events in Argentina, causing the dictatorship to be labeled as a semi-equivalent of the Third Reich. The film was made to reflect what Díaz suffered in his days in captivity and try to leave a message about why a dictatorship should never be accepted. There are many questions when comparing the film with the events of the dictatorship and even more so when the statements of those who lived at that time are included.
To begin with, the film itself functions as a critique of military fascism and manages to tell a heartbreaking story that touches the most sensitive ones. The moments where the prisoners are witnessed manage to generate a disturbing and uncomfortable feeling. Many of the characters are young people with whom you can empathize and even feel sorry for them. The film manages to be a promising dramatic story in that sense. The quality of the film on an artistic level may not be the best, especially speaking of a film made in a country where it was about 10 or 20 years behind compared to Hollywood. But the context that this film offers is undoubtedly more relevant than the quality itself.
Héctor preferred to give more priority to the captives and that was beneficial in making the film very touching and tragic to watch. Now, when the time comes to analyze it with real-life events, a couple of issues arise that make La Noche De Los Lápices a film that works much better as a fictional story than as a historical event. This is due to the statements of those who lived during the dictatorship. While many claim that the dictatorship was a reign of terror, others who lived at the time claim that it is an exaggeration that distorts the reality of the events. They assure that they never suffered the horrors that have been narrated and that the dictatorship allowed them to study and work peacefully. Therefore, it raises the suspicion that what the film intends to narrate is only superficial and does not reflect what really happened. Some maintain that both this film and other media have only distorted the events of the dictatorship. Part of these statements is due to the fact that there were people who supported the dictatorship and if we take into account the anarchy and acts of terrorism caused by the Montoneros that took place after Perón's death, the military was absolutely right to apply cohesion. Juan Manuel De Rosas had done the same thing, but the possibility that the dictatorship has crossed certain limits is not ruled out. Even so, it cannot be confirmed whether all the horrors that occurred were real because there is always the possibility that some facts have been distorted. A disputed part is whether there were really 30,000 missing. While official sources say yes, others argue that this is false and that in reality there were fewer. A statement like this is considered a fallacy in Argentina, but how can you be so sure if that number is true or false? It is even speculated that Las Madres De Plaza De Mayo lied about that number just to collect the subsidiary.
According to certain sources, it is estimated that there were only 10 of the missing students. Some of them may have been involved in a political movement that could be considered subversive or the others were only kidnapped by mistake for the simple fact of being linked to a friend who might have been involved in a match without knowing it. Although The Mothers of Plaza De Mayo claim that their children were innocent, the reality is that possibly some of their children were not completely innocent. It was quite obvious that Claudia was a communist and that made her an easy target for the government of that time. This was also enough for the other young people to be suspected of being communists or Montoneros. This being the case, since the majority of the disappeared belonged more to the working class group, the young students were nothing more than collateral damage. Said damage should not have been so relevant, but Pablo's statements became significant for Las Madres and that would end up being used to be part of the fall of the dictatorship. There is also a whole discussion about whether the military was really guilty of the events, because others argue that it was actually the police responsible for the kidnappings. The film even raises this suspicion when the first kidnappings occur. This is also debatable because the police and military were linked to La Triple A during the government of Isabel Perón.
