Clandestine Childhood (2012)

This was the Argentina's submission for last year's American Academy Awards and failed to make into the final five. But it was a clean sweep in Argentinian Academy Awards in the same year. Forget that past sad occurrence, I mean the Oscars, this movie was great and I liked it very much. After a very long gap I saw an Argentinian movie reckoning to be a good and it was. I am satisfied and glad I saw it which was loosely based on the director's real life story when he was a child.This story was told from the perspective of a kid called Juan. His parents are the activists during the Cold War known as the Dirty War. After their return to the home country with different names, Juan joins the school known as Ernesto. He finds hard to understand his parents' behaviour, but comfortably settles with his new fake name with a little help from his uncle. The problem arises when his true identity matters the most. Whether he reveals or not is the crux of the movie's end.In my recent watch I had seen the people who struggle while protesting in a country's revolution. It might be based on real like 'NO' or fictional like 'Night Train to Lisbon', but majority of them end in heartbreak tragedy. Similarly, this movie opened its account in a simple manner like most of the drama that based on the revolution theme. Yes, of course it confuses at first about what's going on then slowly explain the situation. But all the difference and racy pace emerge suddenly in the last quarter of the movie. Till then I was in the movie trying to concentrate, but then instantly put me on the edge of my seat with cute romance and followed by thriller. That, the end portion of the story of last 10-15 minutes took the movie to the heights.Yes, like I said the movie kicks off with a slow and boring pace with nothing much to enjoy earlier and ends in a style. Some movies are largely depends on the story's end solution and so this. To me it looked fine movie, different people will have different opinions, so watch it by yourself and express yours.

When we see this movie, we start to think: what kind of people voluntarily put their own children in the middle of a dirty war?? What kind of fanaticism produces people like these? Unfortunately that kind of "leftist" fanaticism of the 1970's is somehow being replaced by other kinds of fanaticism so many innocent "idealists" keep falling for the sake of "ideas", ideologies or religions. In the middle of that craziness the only sane voice seems to be the kid's grandmother. But nevertheless, despite the sad story (the world is full of sad stories, isn't it?), this movie is very well realized and the acting, direction and editing are very good. The idea of using drawings to replace certain violent scenes was already used before in an Israeli movie but nevertheless was very well done.

Clandestine Childhood is a coming of age story with a difference. As the title suggests, it is growing up under secrecy. The film is set in 70's Argentina where the military junta rules the country and opposition groups are clandestinely active. We follow a 12 year old son of one of these revolutionary couples who is growing up under a cloud of secrecy to protect the identity of his parents. The boy is a normal child who wants to invite his friends home, have a girlfriend and all that but can not do so due to the risk of exposing his parents who are wanted by the military dictatorship.The politics and the history, though ever present, are kept firmly in the background and the film focuses on the boy's story. The fact that the film is based partly on the director's own childhood, and specially knowing (as he told the audience after a screening) that his mother was one of the "disappeared" during that era, makes the film very poignant. An added bonus is the great music in the film.

The movie is an emotional journey that takes its spectators to Argentina's military dictatorship of 1970's. Juan is a boy who struggles with his double identity he obtained for security purposes, as his parents are involved in combat against the regime. Ávila's script collaboration with Müller brings an amazing story that balances between fear of being discovered by military and love in the family, and consequently love of Juan and his classmate María. Altogether with the script, the movie has absolutely engaging music, art direction and cinematography. Ávila's way of filming brings attention to every single detail and delivers unified piece of cinematographic art. Actor Teo Gutiérrez Moreno is absolutely superb in his performance of the young boy and his life's struggle. Actress Natalia Oreiro delivers thrilling performance of revolutionary fighter and proves that she can portray a character that is as gentle as a mother to her son, as well as someone determined to fight the military regime. Moreover, actor Ernesto Alterio brings moments of humor into the story as his well-written character of uncle Beto. The story is based on true events and the love the director dedicated to this movie can be felt in every single second. This outstanding movie will touch not only those familiar with Argentine regime of 70's, yet it will find its way to hearts of many cinema lovers too.